


A tale of a sentinel and his guide

by Marine226



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, First Kiss, First Time, Forbidden Love, Guide Chin Ho Kelly, Guide Danny Williams, Latent Guide Chin Ho Kelly, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sentinel Kono Kalakaua, Sentinel Steve McGarrett, Sentinel/Guide, Sentinel/Guide Bonding, Urination, coming online, mild blood play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2020-11-22 17:16:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 43,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20877830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marine226/pseuds/Marine226
Summary: In a world where it is strictly forbidden to be a sentinel or guide, Steve finds his guide and tries to hide what he is, and the overwhelming desire to bond.





	1. Chapter 1

Nobody knew exactly when sentiment towards sentinels and guides started to change, they only knew that the last straw to break the camel’s back had been when Sentinel Marcus Goldham had gone feral and killed 30 people, including 10 innocents, to save his guide. It was like how nobody could even name the man’s guide, like it was a piece of irrelevant information.

The world had changed after that, or at least it had for sentinels and guides. They were hunted and killed on sight. The laws had changed soon after, laws that said that sentinels and guides were required to make themselves known as soon as they manifested, and that they would be euthanised. There was no other alternative. Sentinels and guides were far too dangerous to live.

Like everyone else, Steve had learnt to be terrified of sentinels and guides, not just for what they could do, but of what would happen if he was ever to be thought of associating with them. He’d been scared when the Navy had started including an annual check to see if anyone in the service had manifested – not that the testing was that onerous. It had mainly consisted of testing their senses and empathic abilities, apparently there was no blood test yet. Steve didn’t know whether to be relieved or scared.

By the time he was 25, Steve realised that he hated the gifted. He hated sentinels and he hated guides. And then the unspeakable happened. 

The team had been in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere (read: _Classified _), and the enemy had gotten the drop on them. Steve didn’t remember much after the first IED had blown up the ATV, he did remember being in so much pain that everything hurt. He’d come to in an abandoned building on the outskirts of _Classified _ city, covered in blood and hugging Jason’s body to him, he nose buried deep into Jason’s neck and inhaling his scent. 

Jason – a guide from his team – had helped him, bringing him out of the feral episode and bringing his dials down to normal. He explained that Steve had just come online as a sentinel, and what exactly that meant. Thankfully, he’d had a very supportive team. There were a few that knew about him, sentinels and guides themselves, and the rest were kept in the dark.

Steve had struggled with his senses in those first few months, regularly zoning and having spikes, despite everything that he tried. It was then that his team leader – an alpha guide – had made the call that Steve needed a surface bond with a guide at all times. It was easy enough for the man to organise without going through any official channels, and he found an available guide was assigned to his team. After a time, it was easier to get by without a guide. 

Three years later, a suspected guide had undergone _ Testing_. The _Testing _ went on for three weeks. Then there was a wave of sentinels and guides that were arrested, _Tested _ and euthanised. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots. That was the first time one of their own had turned, but it wasn’t the last time. 

It only served the reinforce the atmosphere of fear surrounding sentinels and guides. Not just of mundanes to the gifted, but within the gifted as well. You couldn’t trust anyone.

Steve closed the door to his truck and rested his head against the steering wheel, trying not to zone. He was so fucked! He’d just met his guide, one Detective Danny Williams. He didn’t need to drop his shields to realise who he was talking to. He wondered if the other had felt the same way. Probably not.

He grabbed his cell phone and hit speed dial 1. It didn’t take long to be answered. 

“Steve, I can’t talk now, is it urgent?” Lt Catherine Rollins answered.

“Yeah” Steve breathed out. He tried to say more, but he was already struggling. His heart was beating rapidly, and his breathing was following. If he didn’t get control soon, he’d zone. 

“Steve?” Catherine was saying, he heard a door close in the background, “Steve, what happened? Can you talk?”

Steve closed his eyes and just listened. Catherine’s voice was usually enough, but this time, it was barely having an effect. Thankfully Catherine cottoned on and started talking again, he had no idea what about, but it started to help and he felt the impending zone lift. 

“Steve?” Catherine asked again, stopping her monologue.

“Here” Steve responded.

Catherine sighed in relief, “Oh my god, Steve, don’t do that again. What happened?”

“I found – I found the guy I was looking for” Steve responded, partly talking in code in case unfriendly ears were nearby.

“Oh?” Catherine asked, “Did he know you’ve been looking for him?”

Steve breathed out heavily and lifted his forehead from the steering wheel, “No”

“You should tell him, Steve” Catherine told him.

“I can’t, Catherine, you know that!” Steve exclaimed.

“You’ll have to at some stage, Steve” Catherine responded, then she sighed, “I’m sorry, I need to get back to my meeting. Are you going to be okay?”

Steve nodded, “Yeah, sorry to bother you”

“It’s no bother, that’s why you have me on speed dial” Catherine responded.

Steve grinned, “Yeah, thanks Catherine”

Steve hung up and looked out the windscreen. He’d have the gauge Danny’s reactions and find out if the other man was trustworthy. And maybe, just maybe, once he’d brought his father’s killer to justice (and if he was honest, it would have to be after that. Because he couldn’t just leave in the middle of the investigation, and certainly not for a week), they could have some alone time and bond in the way described in fairy tales – adult fairy tales.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny glanced at Steve, before looking back at the road. It figured that it was a sentinel who had so easily hijacked his life, but he thanked any and all of the gods that at least the man wasn’t his sentinel. Or at least, he didn’t think so. 

Danny had been able to get his hands on one of the few remaining books on sentinels and guides a few years ago during a murder investigation. The literature had said that it was only the sentinels who could tell when they met with their guide, and that they had the overwhelming desire to bond with their guide as soon as they met. 

It had only been two days since he’d met Steve, but the literature had only noted one case where the sentinel had denied the bonding for more than a day. But then, that had been written more than two decades ago… well before sentinels and guides had had to hide from one another.

Danny sighed, hopefully the man would move on after they caught his father’s murderer. Having a sentinel around was far too dangerous.

Not that the man wasn’t nice to look at. He was very easy on the eyes. Which was probably another reason that he was better off just leaving. The powers that be tended to look closer at same sex couples than others because sentinel and guide pairs were usually same sex. 

Danny glanced at Steve again and found the other man staring at him, he was wearing a guarded expression, but the same couldn’t be said for the feeling he was projecting at him. Danny subtly pushed on his shields to make him stop projecting his feelings.

“What?” Danny asked, glancing back at the road, before looking back at Steve.

“I still can’t believe you hit me” Steve told him.

“I hit you because you got me shot!” Danny exclaimed. It was partially true. He’d hit Steve because he’d smelt Danny’s blood and damn near had a meltdown, so he’d hit him, effectively stopping the sentinel from going feral.

“I didn’t shoot you! Did I ever even point my weapon in your direction?” Steve responded, “How did I get you shot?”

“We went in without back-up!” Danny exclaimed, “I told you our suspect was a dangerous guy who had ties to the firearm industry and you ignored me!”

“Would you keep your eyes on the road?” Steve interrupted him.

“Do not interrupt me!” Danny shouted, “Did I give you permission to talk? No, I didn’t. Right now, you have to listen! You do not just go into dangerous situations without backup!” 

“But I did, you’re the backup” Steve interrupted.

“Why are you talking?! What the hell is the matter with you?!” Danny exclaimed, then rubbed a hand over his face. He was getting too old for this. 

“I’m sorry you got shot, Danno” Steve said.

“It’s just a scratch” Danny grumbled. And god-damn, but there was that rough edge to Steve again. Danny suppressed a sigh, Steve seriously needed to meditate. The man was so close to going feral again. Danny glanced at his arm and saw his blood was starting to seep through the bandage. Well the best defence was an offence, right?

“But you are dangerous. Rules are made for a reason, Steven, and you can’t just ignore them when it suits you” Danny told him.

“Why do I feel like you’re breaking up with me?” Steve asked.

Danny glanced at Steve, noting the careful lines around the man’s face, “You took control of my investigation and then made me your partner, but once Hesse is brought to justice, I expect that I’ll go back to HPD and you’ll go back to the Army”

“Is that what you want?” Steve asked, focussing on the road instead of meeting Danny’s gaze, “And you know it’s the Navy, not the Army”

“Yeah, it’s what I want” Danny answered. He ignored the pang of intense sadness and distress that Steve projected, before quickly covering it up. Danny suspected that Steve was a strong sentinel – at least five senses – if he could also project his feelings at will, even if he had trouble keeping that sense under wraps at the moment.

Steve glanced at him, then sighed, “I don’t believe you, you’re heart-rate just – ” Steve abruptly stopped talking, flicking his eyes to Danny’s. Danny got a brief flick of fear, horror and desperation from Steve, before again it disappeared. Steve opened his mouth, then closed it a few times, before finally trying a different tactic. “And the Governor’s taskforce was never just about bringing my father’s murderer to justice, it was about cleaning up all of Hawai’i”.

Danny decided to cut the man a break, he wasn’t going to call him on the obvious slip up, being all that they were both ignoring that they both recognised each other as a sentinel and a guide. He quickly and shortly projected calming emotions at Steve, before he responded, “Fine, but you’ve gotta stop doing dumb shit, I have a daughter you know. And I’d really really like to see her 21st birthday, and way further down the line, her wedding, and when she starts her own family”

“So when she’s at least, what 30?” Steve asked, his expression softening, clearly relieved that Danny didn’t say anything about his slip up.

“30? What the hell’s the matter with you? She has to be at least 35 or 40 before any of that happens” Danny responded.

Steve grinned at Danny, one that Danny returned. Oh, they were so fucked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter seems a bit out-of-scene with the Sentinel/Guide verse, but I still think it makes sense. Here's hoping I got the right feel for the chapter - let me know what you think! :)

Danny sighed deeply and put his head in his hands. His head was pounding. It felt like he’d had the headache since the beginning of time itself, but knew that if he was being reasonable, it was more like a few days. He adjusted his too-tight pants and grumbled. _Great, just what he needed right now._

Danny removed his head from his hands and glanced towards Steve’s office to find that as expected, yep, the man was staring in Danny’s direction. The sentinel probably knew about Danny’s arousal before he did. 

After agonising about why his body was betraying him this way, Danny had dug up his book on sentinels and guides and finally got an answer. It didn’t mean that he was happy about what he’d found out.

Apparently in some cases, not all (but the author didn’t know why some but not others), when unbonded guides and sentinels were in close proximity for an extended period of time, a guide’s body would produce an excessive amount of semen and testosterone (for males) to notify the sentinel that they were available for bonding. In other words, Steve was the reason Danny had started getting hard-ons at irregular times over the last three days. At least this time, they weren’t in an enclosed car together when it happened.

Danny sighed again; he didn’t want to have to parade the party in his pants throughout the palace to get to the bathroom to take care of it. The nearest bathrooms were closed for maintenance – apparently someone had got the shits (pun not intended) with the sinks being too low, or maybe it was that it was unisex and there was more than enough room to make them two separate bathrooms.

Danny slipped his hand underneath the waistbands of his pants and boxers and started stroking himself. He was thankful that at least Kono and Chin had knocked off for the day, it was just him and Steve in the office. He just wished he’d left an hour ago when his colleagues had disappeared, but he wanted to finish his paperwork before leaving. That or he was subconsciously matching his hours to that of Steve’s, and he didn’t want to examine that too closely.

Looking up, Danny wondered if Steve was aware of what he was doing. Danny grinned and unbuttoned his pants, then pushed his pants and boxers to his ankles, freeing his aching cock. He swiped his thumb over the tip of his cock, collecting the pre-cum and using it to lube himself up. 

Well, if Steve hadn’t been aware of the x-rated scene going on in Danny’s office before, then he certainly was now. Even Danny could smell himself. He let his mind wonder as he continued to stroke himself…

_ “Need a hand with that?” Steve asked from his doorway, but he didn’t wait for an invitation as he entered Danny’s office and knelt in front of him._

_ Steve leant forward and licked up the underside of Danny’s cock, then engulfed the head and started bobbing up and down. _

Danny groaned and leant his head against the headrest of his chair. Of course his mind would insert Steve into his fantasy life. It’d only been a week since he’d met the sentinel, imagine what he’d be like after another week, or even worse, a month. Danny mentally shrugged and closed his eyes, deciding that for the moment that he didn’t care, it felt far too good (and right).

_ Steve was making obscene slurping noises and grinning at Danny. He started licking up and down Danny’s length like it was his favourite lollipop. Then he was stroking Danny, whilst sucking on Danny’s balls. _

“Steve” Danny gasped under his breath, opening his eyes in surprise. He hadn’t meant for that to slip out. He hoped Steve hadn’t heard him, but he highly doubted that. He’d almost certainly heard him and was probably about to bust through his door and try to bond with him. 

Danny blinked, What? Where had that come from? He didn’t want to bond with Steve. Besides bonding usually only took place when Sentinels found _their_ guide, not just any guide. 

Not that he didn’t enjoy the thought of Steve having his wicked way with him, but he could deal without getting too close to an unbonded sentinel. 

_ “Please” Danny begged, he had his pants around his ankles and was leant over his desk. _

_ Steve slowly pushed into him, giving him little time to get used to his size before thrusting into him again. _

Danny tweaked his nipple and thrust harder and faster into his fist, he was so close to coming. His cock felt slick in the fist, feeling amazing as he thrust in and out. He bit his lip and quickly searched his pants, then his desk drawers for a condom. He didn’t want to cum all over his desk, it’d be a bitch to clean off. In the end, he settled for grabbing his jocks, they would have to be sacrificed.

_ Steve set a punishing rhythm, but one that Danny could match. The sound of skin hitting skin filled the office, with the occasional grunts from the two men. _

_ Then Steve was coming deep inside Danny, the warmth filling him from the inside. Steve’s mouth found Danny’s neck, and then he was biting and sucking and licking until he’d marked him as his. _

_ “Guide” Steve whispered against Danny’s skin, “My guide” _

Danny gasped and came hard. He remembered to push his boxers over himself to catch the cum before it went everywhere. 

His body spasmed as he continued to ejaculate cum everywhere, it was as if his body was trying to coat everything in cum as a homing beacon for his sentinel. And funnily enough, that was exactly how the books read.

Danny panted as he tried to get his breath back. He hadn’t had an orgasm that intense since the first time he’d found (or his boyfriend had found) his prostrate. 

At least his headache had reduced in intensity. There was something to be said for the old-wives-tale about sex curing headaches.

He glanced worriedly in the direction of Steve’s office, but confusingly found it empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the difference in how Steve and Danny perceive the situation with Sentinels/Guides is this:
> 
> Danny has one of the few remaining books on Sentinels/Guides, which informs more of his opinions on them. Particularly with regards to the Sentinels/Guides that turned. He knows that Sentinels/Guides are very insular and protective (hence why they usually form a pack) and would never turn on one-another unless they're damaged in some way. The Sentinels and Guides that turned on the others were tortured for days/weeks on end, before they admitted to being Sentinels/Guides, let alone turning on their own kind.
> 
> Danny thinks being around other Sentinels/Guides increases his chance of being caught and he doesn't advertise that he's a guide to any of the 'gifted' that he meets. However, he trusts that the only Sentinels/Guides that are a genuine threat to him are those that have turned - and you could spot them a mile off, or at least with enough time to reinforce shields upon shields to hide. He thinks regular Sentinels/Guide are good people and will do the right thing, unless they are taken in for 'testing' and then all bets are off.
> 
> Steve has trust issues, which are only amplified when it comes to Sentinels/Guides. In theory, he knows that the only Sentinels/Guides that turned were subject to torture, but his highly suspicious nature makes him wonder about everyone. He thinks that anyone he reveals himself to could turn him in - and he's ready and willing to dispose of them before it came to that.
> 
> I hope that makes sense...


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine stepped off the ship and glanced around the harbour, it was good to be home. She grinned as her phone rang, displaying _Steve McGarrett_ on the screen.

“Aloha sailor, it’s like you just read my mind” Catherine answered with a smile. But her smile soon turned to a frown when she heard ragged breathing on the other end of the line. 

“Steve? Steve, can you hear me?” Catherine asked, but she didn’t get a response. She listened to Steve’s harsh breaths for a moment, before realising that he’d zoned. If their last conversation was anything to go by, she was going to have a hard time getting him out of this one. 

Catherine started talking to him, speaking about anything that came to her mind. She just hoped it wasn’t his hearing that he’d zoned on, hopefully at least her voice could lift the zone a little bit. 

As she talked, Catherine hurried down the pier to her car. As she got in, she quickly pulled out her laptop, waiting agonizing minutes until it loaded up. Eventually, she was able to pull up a tracking program and tried to pin point Steve’s mobile. The location showed him at Iolani Palace, which was maybe a 20 minute drive away.

Catherine turned on her car, shoved it into drive, released the handbrake and tore out of the carpark. She kept up the monologue as she drove, keeping tabs on how Steve was doing. But by the time she arrived at the Palace 15 minutes later, he was still unresponsive.

Before leaving the car, she glanced at the tracking program and mapped where she needed to go to locate her friend. She tried to act normal as she left the car and approached the entranceway, or as normal as a person wanting to get into the governor’s house so late at night.

When she got to security, she flashed her badge to try to get through the process quicker, and thankfully they just waved her through. Once inside, she made quick work of finding the room Steve was in.

Catherine thought she got the directions wrong as she found herself in a corridor in the bowels of the Palace, surrounded only by concrete. She frowned as she stopped outside the door to the room Steve was in, the door looked heavy set, more like one would use in a prison.

Mentally giving a shrug, Catherine opened the door and thankfully found Steve. What she wasn’t expecting was to find Steve curled up in the foetal position, completely unresponsive. Nor was she expecting the wave of intense despair that Steve was projecting. She quickly closed the door in case there were unfriendly people nearby.

“Steve?” Catherine called, quickly going to his side. Steve’s eyes were open, which suggested he’d zoned on sight. She continued talking to Steve as she started pressing Steve’s pressure points, trying to get his sense of touch to pull him out.

When that didn’t work, Catherine tried engaging his other senses, but nothing was working. Catherine hadn’t seen Steve zone this hard ever, she’d always been able to pull him out within a few minutes. But she suspected this was because Steve had found his guide, and like the pig-headed stubborn idiot that he was, hadn’t even so much as said anything to the man. 

She rifled through the pockets in her bag and dug out her first aid kit. She found a needle and quickly assembled it, then pushed it into Steve’s hip. But still there was no response. 

“Come on, Steve” Catherine muttered, breaking off her monologue for a moment, “Snap out of it”

Catherine sighed and brushed her hands over her face for a moment, trying to think of something else to do. But nothing came to mind, nothing she hadn’t already tried. She started talking to Steve again and rubbed circles around his hip and down the side of his body. Hopefully with time, he’d come out of it.

It was three hours later that Catherine finally had a brain-wave. Steve remained unresponsive, and Catherine had been thinking about how the only thing that would bring Steve out of the zone was actually a person, his guide. But Steve hadn’t told her who it was, at least not outside of that they were a male and now worked together.

Catherine smiled, then quickly kissed Steve’s forward and a whispered, “I’ll be back”

Catherine left the room, closing the door behind her. She hated leaving Steve on his own, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. She quickly made her way to the five-0 HQ, only relying on Steve’s vague directions from their last chat _’It’s at the top of the Iolani Palace, great views’_.

She stopped as soon as she entered the HQ, trying to catalogue everything about the offices. She walked into the first office and immediately discounted it, this was a female’s office. The second office belonged to a male, but she discounted this one as well, she recognised Chin Ho Kelly as a friend of Steve’s father. She knew that the two of them had met prior to a week ago, so it couldn’t be him.

The third office also belonged to a male and she stopped to take in all she could. She looked at the photo of a young blond in his thirties, smiling at the camera, his cheek resting against a young girl, probably his daughter, who was clearly laughing hard, a spot of ice-cream on her nose. Catherine smiled and continued looking around the office, trying to find something she could use.

She opened the locker at the back of the office and found three ties and a sweater. Catherine grabbed the sweater and turned to leave the office, but as she did, something in the bin caught her attention. When she looked closer, she realised that the item that had caught her attention was a set of boxers, a set of pineapple boxers. 

Catherine raised her eyebrows; she didn’t want to know why they were in the bin. Sometimes boys were just gross. She put the sweater back in the locker, then put on some gloves and grabbed the boxers. She just about ran back to the concrete/interrogation type room, hoping that she could at least get through to the stubborn man now.

Thankfully it didn’t take long. Catherine put the boxers close enough to Steve’s head that he could get a scent off them, and waited. 

Steve groaned and pushed his face closer to the set of boxers. He stayed put for so long that Catherine began to suspect he’d gone again, but then he moved. He blinked heavily, then reached out with clumsy hands and grasped the underwear.

“Steve?” Catherine asked.

“Mmm?” Steve responded, not moving his position. 

“Steve!” Catherine snapped, hoping to get more of a reaction.

Steve lifted his head and blearily blinked at Catherine, then frowned, “Catherine?”

Catherine smiled, “Evening sunshine” then amended, “Actually, good morning”

Steve slowly sat up, then seemed to take notice of his surroundings for the first time, “What happened?”

“I was hoping you could tell me” Catherine answered.

Steve’s frown deepened for a moment, then smoothed out when he remembered the events of the previous night. Clearing his throat, Steve rested his forearms on his raised knees and scrunched up his face, “Don’t think you really want to know”

“Don’t want to know? Steve, are you kidding me? You called me and couldn’t even answer me because you zoned. And not for a short amount of time – four hours, Steve! That’s how long you were out! Of course I want to know what happened!” Catherine exclaimed.

Steve scrubbed a hand over his face before responding, “Okay, so Danny started masturbating in the office last night”

“I heard that happens in cases where the bond is denied for longer than it needs to be” Catherine responded.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve asked.

“You know what it means Steve, and don’t change the topic, get back to the story” Catherine told him.

Steve sighed, “I couldn’t stand hearing it and smelling it, so I left. But as soon as I did, it was like my body was set on fire, it was like coming online again for the first time. Everything hurt. My head was pounding, and everybody was shouting, I just…. I came here to get away from it” 

“And where exactly is here?” Catherine asked.

“This is our interrogation room, I made them design it so it would be sentinel safe. You know, in case we had to interrogate one” Steve responded.

“Of course” Catherine said with a smile.

Steve grinned in response, then his expression sobered up, “It’s a damned good thing I did. I wouldn’t have made it home”

“Steve, you need to tell your guide what’s going on with you, you won’t be able to survive much longer like this” Catherine told him.

“Yeah, I know” Steve said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's hoping this hit the spot! Apologies if this chapter feels like it was cut short, it ended up being too long with the last part of the scene still there, so I've had to break it into two. 
> 
> Let me know what you think! :P
> 
> Also, what's the name of the interrogation room? I've forgotten and I can't find the answer on the interwebs...


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments! I totally feed off them! And thank you for the tip about the name of the interrogation / rendition room - I also appreciated the blue room of interrogation :)

Steve sighed and stretched out his legs, the cool floor of the rendition room feeling good against his heated skin. His head was still pounding, but at least now it wasn’t as overwhelming as it had been before. 

“You okay?” Catherine asked him, even as the guide in her searched him for any signs of injury.

Steve nodded, “Better than I was before”

“You know it’s only going to get harder to be around him” Catherine told him.

“Harder when I’m not around him” Steve commented, he didn’t need to tell her about how he’d spent every night in agony since he’d met his guide. As he thought about it, he felt his skin begin to prickle again and his eyesight began to narrow until all he could see was the wall opposite him. He felt it happening and tried to warn Catherine, but only managed a grunted, “Grey”

“Steven!” Catherine snapped, then slapped the side of his face.

“Ow” Steve said, then blinked and stared at his friend, “Sorry”

“You need to meditate” Catherine told him, “I can help you for now, but I can’t keep doing this”

Steve scrunched up his face, he didn’t want or need the reminder that every time he zoned, he put them in danger. But he didn’t think that’s what she was hinting at, but instead of asking, he said “I need to sleep, what time is it?”

“It’s after midnight. And whilst I agree you need sleep, you need to meditate more. You can’t go out there like this, it would only take a half-switched on sensitive person to figure out what just happened. You’re a mess, you need to get yourself sorted out and I can help with that” Catherine said. 

“Now come on, adopt the pose” Catherine told him in a no-nonsense tone of voice. She crossed her legs and indicated he should do the same, her eyes challenged him to do anything other than what she was telling him to do.

Steve sighed and finally did as he was told. He mirrored her pose and closed his eyes, listening to Catherine as she guided him through the meditation session. His mind drifted, caught somewhere between this plane of existence and another one. 

_In his mind’s eye, he saw a black panther prowling around a clearing. The animal was clearly stressed, its mouth was agape and it was panting heavily. Its movements were jerky as it paced from one side of the clearing to the other, and its eyes never left Steve’s, it was as though it was sizing him up. _

_And Steve knew that that was exactly what he was doing, he knew that the panther – Julian – was pissed at him and for more than one reason. It had been a long time since he’d been to this domain, a long time since he’d taken the time to visit with his spirit animal. But that wasn’t the main thing that was irritating the panther now, it was that he had found his guide, his partner, and he hadn’t accepted it. _

_It felt like he was rejecting his guide. That was why it hurt to be around the man, but why it hurt so much more to put any kind of distance between them. And that pain was being inflicted on his spirit animal as well as himself. _

_Steve carefully approached the panther, his hand held up in front of him, palm up, “Shhhh” he said softly. _

_The panther growled at him in warning and stopped its pacing to track Steve’s movement. Steve inched closer again, slowly getting closer. The closer he got, the better he could see that Julian’s coat was not in good condition. He didn’t know if it was his neglect of coming to the spirit world or his denying of the bond with his guide that did it, but he was sure that he was responsible for the animal’s state._

_Steve closed the last of the gap between them and held out his hand for Julian to sniff, to see whether the panther would still accept him. Julian bared his teeth and cautiously smelt Steve’s hand, and it broke Steve’s heart that his own spirit animal either didn’t recognise him or didn’t trust him enough._

_But finally, Julian gave a soft whine and batted his hand with his head. Steve gave a small smile and started petting the animal. As his hand slid up and down the Julian’s back, Steve started to feel better, the energy from the animal and the physical connection of the bond they shared making Steve feel stronger. _

_Steve slowly and carefully wrapped his arms around the panther and pressed his face against the animal’s fur. Julian started purring, then turned to face his human and began licking Steve’s face._

_ Steve smiled and hugged the panther closer. He knew he needed to get better at accessing this world and spending more time with the spirit animal, he’d forgotten how much he enjoyed it._

_ Steve lay down, Julian following him, never leaving his arms. He closed his eyes, silently making a promise to return more often._

_ “On one, you’ll open your eyes and feel refreshed” Steve heard a voice speak in a calm tone._

_ “Five” _

_ Steve looked around, but only saw Julian. _

_ “Four” _

_ Steve frowned and looked around again, but he was still alone. _

_ “Three” it came again. _

_ “Two” Was that Catherine’s voice? _

“One”

Steve opened his eyes and found himself sitting on the floor in the rendition room. Then it came back to him and he looked up into Catherine’s smiling face.

“You did good” she told him, still smiling.

“I saw Julian” Steve told her.

Catherine nodded, “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Few years ago” Steve responded, then scrubbed a hand over his face. It felt weird talking about his spirit animal with Catherine, but he didn’t know when that had changed. He’d talked to her about Julian before, but now it felt too personal, it felt wrong.

“Are you okay?” Catherine asked, worry etched on her face.

Steve nodded, “Yeah, I just – I don’t know….”

Catherine gave him a small understanding smile, then stood up, “What say we get out of here?”

“Yeah” Steve replied, getting up, “What’s the time?”

“0630h” Catherine responded, then held up a hand to stop the argument before it began, “You needed to meditate and you were doing better than any of the other times, so I let it go longer. You’re still a bit rough around the edges, but at least you don’t feel like you just had a serious zone. You should take today off, sleep for a good few hours, and maybe meditate some more”

“I don’t need to take the day off” Steve argued.

“Yes, you do. Steve, I don’t need to remind you that you are more likely to zone again in this state, and particularly if you’re tired” Catherine responded.

“I’ve had worse” Steve commented.

“Yes, you have, and remember how that turned out?!” Catherine exclaimed, “You need to go home and sleep!”

Steve scrubbed at his face, he hated it when Catherine was right. He knew that he’d been barely holding it together before and that although he felt a bit better now, it wouldn’t take a lot for him to go spinning again. 

“Fine” he said, motioning for Catherine to proceed him out of the rendition room. He didn’t miss the self-indulgent grin that Catherine sent him way before opening the door. 

Steve held up the boxers and said, “We need to bypass the office”

Catherine nodded in agreement, it wouldn’t be good for a rogue sentinel to smell Danny’s scent on Steve, it would only lead to questions that neither of them wanted to answer. Catherine led the way to Five-0 HQ, which was thankfully still empty this early in the day.

“In the bin” Catherine told him, pointing at Danny’s office, when Steve gave her a questioning glance about where she’d pulled them from. She watched as Steve replaced the item, then came back out.

“I’m gonna shower here before going home, I probably still smell like…” Steve didn’t need to finish the sentence, either way he was going to need to shower before leaving the relative safety of the palace. 

“I’ll wait in your office” Catherine offered, pointing questioningly at the remaining office that she hadn’t checked last night. 

Steve shook his head, “That’s not necessary” 

“It is, because I know you. I want to make sure you go home instead of staying here like some martyr” Catherine responded, her harsh words softened by a small smile.

Steve returned the smile with a self-deprecating grin, “You know me too well”


	6. Chapter 6

Catherine was sitting in one of the armchairs in Steve’s office, catching up on what was going in the news on her phone when Steve’s guide walked into the HQ. She recognized him from the photo with his daughter in his office. But in comparison to the picture, this man looked washed out and it didn’t take a guide to see that he was in pain. 

His shirt was already sticking to his body from sweat, despite it being so early in the day, and he kept touching his forehead as if to ward off a headache. A gesture that he stopped as soon as he saw her in Steve’s office.

The other guide – Steve had called him ‘Danny’ – covertly watched her for a while, before finally coming into Steve’s office and challenging her.

“Hi, I’m Detective Danny Williams” he said, holding out his hand and plastering a smile on his face, a smile they both knew was fake.

Catherine returned the fake smile and shook his hand, “Lieutenant Catherine Rollins”

“Lieutenant huh? So you’re also in the Army?” Danny asked, shoving his hands into his pants.

“It’s the Navy” Catherine responded, narrowing her eyes for a moment as she caught onto the game the man was playing, he was clearly sizing her up, “But I think you knew that”

Danny gave a tight smile, “Can I help you with something? Or take a message? Steve’s out at the moment and I’m sure you have a busy schedule”

“Actually, we stopped here so he could shower, then I’m taking him home, he’s not feeling too well” Catherine responded, then winced internally, she hadn’t meant to sound so possessive of the man, but she was tired and she wasn’t a fan of Danny’s attitude towards her.

“I see you’ve met my partner, Danny Williams” Steve smoothly interrupted the power play between the two as he walked into the room. Catherine hadn’t even noticed him approaching the office, but apparently neither had Danny, if the startled look he gave him was any indication.

Catherine didn’t miss Steve briefly resting his hand on Danny’s shoulder as he entered the room, nor did she miss how the contact made both men relax slightly and some of the pain lines around their faces disappear. Catherine blinked, her mind supplying a few theories about the interaction, one more likely than the rest. 

It seemed an awful lot like Steve had started the imprint on Danny already. It certainly explained the casual touching, but more than that, it explained how the two of them could barely stand to be apart. If she was right, Steve and Danny needed to bond, and sooner rather than later. She stared at Steve questioningly, but the man either hadn’t seen or ignored the look.

“Cath, this is Danny Williams. Danno, Catherine Rollins” Steve made the introductions, then moved past them both to stand behind the desk.

“We’ve met. Cath said she was taking you home because you’re sick” Danny responded, his face tight as he replayed the discussion. He stepped forward and rested the back of his hand against Steve’s forehead, “You do feel a bit warm”

Steve closed his eyes for a moment, clearly enjoying the feel of Danny’s touch, then he opened his eyes and killed the moment as he commented, “So scientific”

But Danny just gave him a cheeky grin, “Well my mum used to kiss our foreheads to gauge our temperatures”

Before Steve could respond, there was the shrill, sharp sound of a whistle being blown, followed by a man shouting. The three of them exchanged knowing, cautious glances before going to the door to Steve’s office to hear the man shouting more clearly.

“Alright everyone, a Sentinel Under Sentence is about to enter your workplace! Return to your own offices immediately! Nobody is to approach the Sentinel Under Sentence! Keep two metres away at all times! Nobody is to speak to the Sentinel Under Sentence! Understand?! Great! Let’s begin!” shouted a big burly man wearing plain black cargo pants with a matching shirt.

Danny gave Steve a quick glance, then returned to his office, standing just outside the door as the rest of the team were. Catherine quickly felt Steve’s outer shields, making sure they were indiscernible, but became aware that someone was already patching him up. She looked across at Danny and exchanged a glance with him, before letting the other man finish what he’d started.

Until that moment, Catherine hadn’t thought that being possessive was a trait of Guides, but Danny was sending her very clear _’Fuck off, he’s mine!_ signals. But it figured that Steve’s guide also had a possessive streak. 

Another well built man, similarly dressed, entered the HQ leading an average looking guy, who was dressed in bright red scrubs. ‘SUS’ was emblazoned in big black print up both sides of the man’s pants, ‘Sentinel Under Sentence’ was emblazoned in the same lettering across the front of his shirt and across the back of his shirt – not that they could see it from where they were standing.

The Sentinel had a big, black collar around his neck, a collar that – rumour had it – held an electric charge that could be activated by one of the man’s guards. Rumour also had it that the electric charge went so high that it could cause death. Around that Sentinel’s waist was a chain that attached to the chain going through the middle of the cuffs around the Sentinel’s ankles, with another chain to each of the Sentinel’s wrists. 

As the Sentinel shuffled into the HQ, two more men in black outfits entered. Clearly they thought that this guy could do some damage, but the ridiculous thing was that the Sentinel looked like he was more at home amongst books. But who knew what he’d been like before the _Testing_.

The Sentinel slowly worked his way through the HQ, going into Kono’s office first, then Chin’s, then Danny’s. The man shuffled around Danny’s office, before heading to the door, but something drew his attention, making him go back to Danny’s desk. Then he looked at Danny with disgust, gesturing to the bin with his eyes as he said, “Do you really think that’s appropriate?”

Danny returned the look, narrowing his eyes at the man, “Do you really think you’re in a position to judge me?”

The Sentinel smirked, then turned back to the guards, “I think he’s a Guide” then he pointed at Catherine, “I think she is too, and he’s a Sentinel” the man pointed at Steve, then at Kono, “And she’s a sentinel too”

“What about Chin? You forgot about him” Danny asked, half in shock and half in pure fury.

“Thanks Danny, I was feeling a bit left out” Chin answered.

“Right?! I mean come on, I don’t know much about the behaviourisms of Sentinels and Guides, but do you really think that they hang around one another in large numbers? Don’t you think that’s a bit dangerous?” Danny asked, “What’s the matter with you? Is this your first time doing this? It is, isn’t it? And you think you can just fill your quota of how many Sentinels and Guides you need to fill at the first place you visit? Am I right?”

“Hey! I thought I said no talking to the Sentinel Under Sentence” one of the guards interrupted.

“Yeah, well _he_ just accused me of being a Guide, if you hadn’t noticed. And I have the right to know what the hell he’s basing that on!” Danny exclaimed. 

“I don’t need to tell you what I’m basing it on!” the Sentinel responded.

“Actually, you do” Danny told him, getting up into the Sentinel’s face, “Article five of the Sentinel/Guide Act is very specific about how you get to be used, including how you can identify Sentinels and Guides. You don’t get to just waltz in here and send people off to be _Tested_ based on a _feeling_!”

Danny had never been so happy to have read that Act from start to finish in great detail. He also thanked every deity he could think of that whoever had written it had made it very strict, presumably from stopping Sentinels and Guides from ‘identifying’ people based on a whim or a grudge. Sometimes he thought that the Sentinels/Guides' jumpsuits should read 'SUS/GUS - Coerced to be here', just in case people forgot that these people were forced to identify others to gain their reward. He likened it to how people would say or admit to anything when they were subject to torture. 

It was just a shame that the same stringent standards weren’t applied to your normal Joe Blow ‘identifying’ Sentinels and Guides on the street. Apparently it was enough to suspect your neighbour or bar tender was gifted without even circumstantial evidence.

Then Danny turned back to the guards, “I hope you know the law better than this moron”

The guard who had spoken when the Sentinel first came in spoke up, speaking to the Sentinel, “Sentinel Under Sentence, you were asked a question from this free man, what are your reasons for suspecting these people?”

“Other than the underwear in his office that stinks of semen?” the Sentinel asked, the cocky grin back on his face.

Danny shrugged, “Sometimes I like to masturbate in the office, doesn’t make me one of you”

“I can tell you’re like me! I can feel it” the Sentinel exclaimed.

“What? You can feel it in your waters?” Danny joked, but his face was stonily serious, then he turned to the guards, “This guy is wasting your time, and ours, we have cases to solve”

“Sentinel Under Sentence, do you have anything we can use?” the guard asked.

The Sentinel frantically looked around, trying to come up with something, but after a couple of minutes of silence, the guards turned the Sentinel around and led him back out of the HQ. 

“What a waste of space” Danny muttered as the team watched the group leaving. They wondered if the Sentinel would be dragged around to any other offices before his inevitable death.

Steve watched Danny for a moment, trying to gauge whether his partner generally disliked Sentinels or whether he didn't like what Sentinels (and Guides) were forced to do in these circumstances. 

“Do you really believe that?” Steve asked as the group finally disappeared from sight.

“That those morons are a waste of air?” Danny asked in return, then nodded, “Yeah I do, he chose to spend his final few days inflicting misery on others and to what end?”

“Maybe he wanted to see his kids again” Steve suggested, still unsure of whether he'd gotten the right read on his partner.

Danny screwed up his face, “Don’t do that! Don’t you dare try to insinuate that in his position, I would do the same!”

“What? You wouldn’t even be tempted to play sniffer dog so you could see Grace one last time?” Steve asked.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?! No, I wouldn’t, not even a little bit, and for two reasons. Firstly, I would never be put in that position. And secondly, what he’s doing? He’s _identifying_ people to go off and get _Tested!_ \- and you know what, let’s not mince words, we know exactly what the _Testing_ is, it’s torture. Plain and simple. So let’s call it that. So do you want to ask me the question again? Would I play ‘sniffer dog’ and send people – and take a moment to consider that that word is plural, Steven – to send people off to be tortured!?” Danny exclaimed, his hands wildly gesturing as he spoke. 

He took a deep breath, then shook his head, “Well, if you don’t know the answer to that, then you don’t really know me at all”

“Danno – ” Steve started, reaching to touch Danny’s shoulder.

But Danny jerked away from the touch, “Don’t! Just… don’t. I need to …. I need to go get coffee” and with that he stalked out of the offices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I hit the nail on the head with this chapter, it was bloody hard to write, but hopefully I got it right. Let me know what you think! :)


	7. Chapter 7

“Danny!” Steve called after the man’s retreating back, feeling like a total jerk for what he asked.

“I think he just needs some time, Steve” Catherine interjected when it became clear that Danny was ignoring them.

“I’ll go” Kono volunteered, then grabbed her jacket and ran after Danny, “Danny! Wait up”

“He’ll be fine” Chin said, briefly touching Steve’s arm, “Like your friend said, he just needs time”

Catherine blinked, suddenly realising she hadn’t introduced herself. She held out her hand, “Catherine Rollins, I used to work with Steve”

Chin took her hand, “Chin Ho Kelly, I currently work with Steve”

Catherine smiled, then returned the conversation back to the subject at hand, “So Danny seems to be well conversed in the particulars of the Sentinel/Guide Act” 

“It’s a hard piece of legislation to get your hands on, at least the whole thing, including amendments and additions” Steve murmured, still focussing on the double glass doors that Danny had disappeared through.

“Yeah, well he had good reason to research it, he hates those ‘sniffer dogs’” Chin responded as he leant back against the doorframe of his office.

“We all do” Catherine reminded him.

“Not as much as Danny does. You see, when the Centres started using the gifted to search for others, Danny’s partner was misidentified. Apparently the ‘sniffer’ was going through the PD as a show-and-tell for the local senator, but nobody had been identified after an hour or so. People started to lose interest, and one of the guards told the ‘sniffer’ that his chance was up and he wouldn’t see his wife again. The guy panicked and pointed at three people, identifying them as Sentinels and Guides, one of them was Danny’s partner” Chin explained.

“But he was a mundane?” Catherine asked, already jumping to the conclusion.

“That’s right, but there was no way to prove it. They were told that that’s what the _Testing_ was for. Danny and a few other cops argued with the centre, trying to get their colleagues released, but had to leave when they were threatened with being branded as Sympathisers. So they pulled out the law books and combed through the Act, but came up with nothing”

Chin sighed, “A few days later, Danny’s partner broke and said he was a Guide. He refused to help the centre with their cause and was executed a few days later. The guy had a wife with two daughters and one on the way”

“Oh god” Catherine gasped, “How did Danny deal with it?”

“Well, he didn’t know about it until it was too late. As soon as the guy confessed, Danny’s colleagues did Danny a solid and locked him in a cell until after the execution. They did the same for the partners of the other two officers, to stop them from doing something stupid” Chin told them.

“So that’s why he hates Sentinels” Steve said softly.

“He doesn’t hate Sentinels, Steve, he hates Sentinels Under Sentence. But anyway, the guy who _identified_ his old partner was a Guide Under Sentence” Chin responded, “Anyway, later that year the amendments – specifically article five – were created, which could have prevented what happened”

Steve nodded, then closed his eyes and wiped a shaky hand over his face, “I never knew”

“I did some asking around HPD when I heard Danny was on his way over here” Chin shrugged, then frowned, “You okay, brah? You don’t look too good”

“Yeah, just need to sit down” Steve responded.

“Actually, I was just taking him home, he’s feeling a bit under the weather” Catherine interjected before Steve could convince himself he was staying.

“Good idea, I’ll walk you out” Chin responded, “You need help, Steve?”

“I can walk” Steve muttered, striding ahead of the other two.

Thankfully it didn’t take long to get down to the parking lot and Chin left them to their own devices. After a brief discussion about who’s car to take, Catherine agreed to follow Steve in her own car. 

Catherine watched Steve’s car closely as she tailed him, waiting to see if there was any indication that he shouldn’t be driving, but thankfully – other than driving too fast – the car stayed where it was supposed to be. She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally came to a stop, a sigh that was short lived when she got out of her car and saw Steve practically fall out of his.

“Steve!” she exclaimed, running over to his side.

“I’m fine” Steve tried to tell her as she helped him off the ground. He leant against the car for a moment, then pinched the bridge of his nose and murmured, “Just had a dizzy spell”

“You look green” Catherine told him, and she wasn’t lying, though to be more accurate, she should have said grey. Steve looked a shade of deathly grey, it wasn’t a good look.

“Thanks” Steve nodded, then started making his way to the door. Catherine followed him, watching for any more signs as he finally unlocked the door and let them in.

“Home sweet home” Steve murmured, making a beeline for the couch. He fell onto the couch and groaned as he pulled his knees to his chest and hugged his knees.

“Steve” Catherine said, kneeling in front of him. She sighed as she looked at him, what was she going to do with him?

“I’m okay” Steve tried to tell her, but it wasn’t very convincing when he wouldn’t even open his eyes. He was covered in sweat and was clearly in pain – which thankfully he wasn’t projecting, because that would be very bad.

“Steve, I can help” Catherine told him softly.

“How?” 

“I can help, but I need to leave for an hour or so” Catherine responded, deliberately not answering the question, “But I need to know something first, and I can’t just… ask”

Steve nodded and pointed to one of the remotes on the coffee table, “Channel 743”

Catherine frowned, but did as asked. When she flicked to the channel, a disco scene appeared on the screen with bright, flickering lights and some music that she hadn’t heard before to match. But what caught her attention more was the slight headache she started to get and how her back teeth started to ache.

Steve’s voice brought her attention back to where it needed to be, “It’s a kind of white noise channel” he explained. It looked like the channel was causing Steve some pain as well, but if it did what they needed it to do, then there was nothing to be done for it.

“So we won’t be overheard?” Catherine clarified.

Steve nodded, “Yeah”

“So you’ve started imprinting on Danny?” Catherine asked.

Steve managed to look sheepish, even in his current state, “I didn’t mean to. He’s always touching me and getting in my personal space”

Catherine sighed, “Steve, you need to bond with him, and soon. I don’t know how much longer you two can go on like this”

“I know” Steve responded, “But we can’t just disappear together for a week or two to bond, people would figure it out. We haven’t even been working together for 2 weeks!”

“Fine, but you have to at least tell him that he’s your guide” Catherine told him, “He has the right to know. Besides, he may have a way for you to bond without the questions”

“I doubt it” Steve replied, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Steve, you have to tell him” Catherine insisted.

Steve nodded, “Okay, tomorrow”

“Good” Catherine responded, then changed the channel and breathed a sigh of relief when the wretched noise stopped, “Okay, you need to rest, I’ll be back in about an hour with something that will help”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And because this is only a short chapter, you get it now :P

Danny thumped the steering wheel with his hand, then did it a few more times for good measure. He hated how he’d dealt with Steve in the office earlier, but what he hated more was the tension between the two of them. There was an undercurrent of _something, something_ that was going on, and whatever it was, was affecting not only their relationship, but their health.

It didn’t take a genius to see that Steve had been in pain today – until of course, when the sniffer dog came around. And then he looked – well, not fine and dandy – but he did look better. Add that to the constant migraines that Danny was having, with the emotional rollercoaster he’d been on of late… Even after his argument with Steve, Danny had felt like bursting into tears, maybe even would have if Kono hadn’t appeared. But the whole thing added up to one thing, he wasn’t being told the whole story.

Danny certainly had his suspicions about what was going on, but he wasn’t sure. Therefore, he’d jumped into his car and gone to Steve’s house to get answers. And whilst there, he figured he could apologize as well, not that he felt like he needed to, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Pulling up at Steve’s house, Danny grabbed the six-pack of Longboards and got out of the car. But as he headed towards the house, something stopped him. A navy blue sedan was parked behind Steve’s truck in the driveway. 

Danny frowned, taking a moment to put the pieces together. Then he thought of the gorgeous brunette that had been sitting in Steve’s office this morning, the one that had said she was taking Steve home. 

Maybe he’d read the signs wrong. Maybe Steve had been looking unwell and in pain lately was yes, because he needed a Guide, but not Danny. Maybe he and _Catherine_ had something, obviously not a complete bond, because Steve still felt like an unbonded Sentinel. But apparently it was enough that time apart from her caused him pain. And if that was true, then it only meant that what? Danny was coming out in pain in sympathy for Steve? It was possible…

Danny covertly thinned his outer shield and immediately felt the presence of the Guide from earlier, Catherine Rollins was definitely in the house with Steve. He reinforced his shields again and quickly got back into his car, then sped away from the house, keen to get as far away as he could before his emotions got the better of him.

\---------------

“Danny!” Steve gasped, sitting bolt upright in bed. He’d finally been able to get to sleep after Catherine had returned, falling into an exhausted sleep. He probably would have slept for a whole 24 hours, but he felt the presence of his Guide close by.

Steve struggled out of bed and raced out of the bedroom and down the stairs. But by the time he threw open the front door and ran outside, his Guide was gone, the tail lights of his car disappearing around the corner.

He was tempted to jump in his car and go after him, but he didn’t have the energy. He sat down heavily on the ground and put his head in his hands, he didn’t know how he’d made such a mess of things.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, before Catherine came out and helped him up, “Come on sailor, let’s get you back inside”


	9. Chapter 9

The ringing of his cell woke Steve from a deep sleep. He couldn’t remember ever having slept as deeply as he had tonight. 

“McGarrett” he gruffly answered the phone, not bothering to hide the fact that whoever was calling had woken him. After all, the blurry red digits on his alarm clock showed that it was 03:41, a time that most people were usually asleep.

They had a case, of course they had a case. He listened with half an ear as he was given the details, then hung up and made short work of getting ready and getting out the door. He opted not to wake Catherine, given how much running around she’d had to do yesterday. 

There wasn’t many people on the roads, meaning that it didn’t take him long to get to the crime scene, and before he knew it, he was ducking under the crime scene tape. He looked around and found Chin crouched next to the body, talking with Max.

“Morning Chin, Max” Steve greeted, “What’ve we got?”

“Good morning, Commander” Max responded in his usual cheery greeting, “You are looking much more rested than the last time I saw you”

“Yeah, someone gave me something to help me sleep” Steve admitted, ignoring the assessing look Chin sent his direction.

Chin returned his attention to Max, before answering, “Victim’s name is James Halifax, C.O.D. is probably the three bullets in his back”

“I won’t know more until I open him up” Max added.

Chin nodded, then continued, “Max was just showing me his tattoos, it may be gang related”

Steve watched as Max turned their victim’s head, showing a few tear drop type tattoos on the man’s face. “Make sure you get – ” Steve started.

“Photos of the tats? Already done and sent to the lab. Way ahead of you, brah” Chin interrupted, smiling to take the heat out of his words, “Kono’s interviewing witnesses to see if – ”

“Most of them didn’t see much, most only saw our vic stumble in here and drop to the floor” Kono interrupted him, then gave a small wave, “Hey boss”

“Primary crime scene?” Steve asked, after giving Kono a small wave in return. He needed to make a note to talk to her at some stage, he didn’t like to let himself get caught by surprise when another Sentinel was in close-proximity, especially when said person who outed the Sentinel was a bloody sniffer dog. It was just a damned-good thing that Danny was able to out-talk the guy…speaking of, where was his side-kick?

“HPD is canvassing the area, nothing has come up yet” Kono responded.

“Danny with them?” Steve asked, but knew that his Guide wasn’t among them. He hadn’t felt the man’s presence as he arrived at the scene.

Chin exchanged a worried glance with Kono, before answering, “Danny said he was feeling under the weather, probably came down with what you had, so said he’d help out from the office”

“Oh, he did? Did he?” Steve asked, pursing his lips, “But he feels okay enough to come to work”

“I’m only passing on what he told me” Chin defended himself, palms raised slightly outwards.

“If he’s feeling sick, he should stay at home and rest. It’s the best way to ward off illness” Max added distractedly as he continued to examine the body, “But I think Detective Williams takes his lead from Commander McGarrett in how he deals with – ”

Steve stared at Max as he abruptly stopped talking, as if seeming to realise that he was speaking aloud. “Mahalo Sherlock, I’ll be sure to pass it on” Steve drawled when Max didn’t look like he was going to continue.

Steve turned to Kono and Chin, “Well, it looks like you both have this in hand, I’ve got a detective to kick up the ass. Let me know if you find anything”

Kono grinned, somehow looking mischievous despite everything, “We will boss man, give him hell”

Steve waved his hand at her and departed the crime scene. It didn’t take him long to get from the club to the headquarters given the time of day, and before he’d even fully rehearsed what he wanted to say, he was walking through those glass double doors. As he got nearer to the headquarters, he felt the familiar pain behind his eyes begin again, but this time, it didn’t get any worse than a migraine.

He immediately spotted Danny half-slumped over the techno-computer table in the middle of the room, still swiping at the screen. There was some yelling music in the background, but it was low enough to not be a hinderance.

“Hey Danno” Steve said as he walked in, trying hard to fight the impulse to just jump the other man where he stood. He let his mind wander to what it would be like to wrap his arms around the other man and inhale his scent.

_ “Mine” Steve whispers as he runs his hands down Danny’s sides, then grips his hips._

_ Danny groans as he unbuttons his pants and undoes the zipper with one hand. Then with the other, he takes hold of one of Steve’s hands and pushes it underneath his pants and underwear to grasp his hot, thick, leaking cock._

_ Steve gasps and pushes his own cock against Danny’s ass, both still encased by too many clothes…_

Danny straightened up against the table, then glared at him, “What did I tell you about that?”

Steve blinks away the vision, still feeling hot and bothered by it. He quickly checks his outer shields to make sure they’re intact, before he registers that he’s been asked a question. “About what?” Steve asked, feigning ignorance.

“My daughter is the only one allowed the call me Danno, it’s a thing” Danny responded.

“Yeah, so is staying at home when you’re sick” Steve smoothly answered, feeling slightly better that at least he wasn’t broadcasting his intentions.

Danny grunted, “I’ll get over it. Nothing worse than what happened with you yesterday.. guess it’s a good thing Catherine was there…”

“Yeah, she helped” Steve allowed, frowning as he said it as he tried to figure out where Danny was going with this.

But Danny merely nodded, then turned his attention back to the table. Steve frowned at the odd behaviour, he felt like he was missing something. And that something was important. Steve’s head began to throb again, a sign that last night’s remedy was starting to fade, which only meant one thing.

He decided to leave it for a moment before trying to talk to Danny about what they really needed to talk about. As he opened the door to his office, Danny spoke again, not lifting his eyes from the graphics on the table, “Is she staying?”

Steve frowned, not quite tracking what Danny was asking, “Say again?”

“Catherine” Danny clarified, lifting his eyes and looking in Steve’s direction, but not quite meeting Steve’s eyes, “Is she staying?”

Steve shook his head, “No. She uh… she’s going back to port, got the call this morning, they need an interpreter”

Steve’s head started to pound and he felt his skin began to prickle with a heat that had nothing to do with his wayward thoughts from earlier. He’d been warned about the side-effects, so he knew what to expect, but he hadn’t thought it would happen this fast.

Thankfully – or un-thankfully – Danny’s phone started ringing, giving Steve the perfect out. He opened the door to his office and quickly got inside, then closed the blinds. He didn’t want anyone to see what he needed to do, it would raise too many questions.

Steve unzipped one of the pockets to his cargo pants and pulled out the small pack. He needed to be quick when he did it, this stuff stank, and if a Sentinel was close-by, he’d be done for. He pulled the rubber band from around the pack and wrapped it tightly around his arm, then huffing out a small, deep breath, he lifted the air-tight lid and grasped the small vial and one of the syringes. 

With sure movements, he inserted the syringe to the vial – his eyes tracking the numbers on the side and his brain translating _Ketamine_, despite wanting to remain oblivious – and measured out 4mls – far less than last night, but enough that his head wouldn’t explode from being in the same room as Danny. He turned the syringe upright and depressed the plunger, making sure there were no bubbles. 

Then he tapped his arm a few times, making sure he could clearly see the vein, before inserting the syringe into his vein and depressing the plunger again. Immediately, he felt his arm go warm, then the warmth travelled up his arm and spread through his body. He could nearly track it on a cellular level, but felt like he’d seriously zone if he thought about it too hard.

With fingers that felt numb, he replaced the syringe and the vial in the pack and closed the lid. And not a moment too soon. As soon as the lid closed, the whirlwind that was Danny Williams entered his office – the precursor of a knock, before barging in without waiting for an answer. His nose was buried in an iPad, but Steve knew better. Danny wasn’t paying any attention to whatever was on the screen – he’d made that mistake too many times (in the week and a bit he’d known the guy) to do it again.

“We got a match on the tattoo on our vic’s face” Danny announced, finally looking at him. Then Danny’s expression turned dark and he turned minutely to slam the door shut behind him, “What is the matter with you? Is that what I think it is?”

Steve frowned, but followed Danny’s line of sight and found that he’d forgotten to take off the rubber cord around his arm. Then Danny saw the pack on the table, and before Steve could stop him, Danny picked it up and held it up so Steve could see it.

“It is, isn’t it?!” Danny exclaimed, then he threw it back at Steve’s desk, “What the _hell_ is the matter with you?! Do you want to get caught?! Are you that bad when Catherine isn’t around?! That you can’t even take a day without feeling the effects?! _One day!_ Steven! It hasn’t even been _One. Goddamn. Day!_”__

_ _“What are you talking about?!” Steve asked, quickly pulling the rubber cord off his arm and – making sure the lid on the pack was secure – shoving both into his top draw, “What has this got to do with Cath?”_ _

_ _But Danny mustn’t’ve heard him, or he was ignoring him. The man was working himself up, his arms flapping like he was conducting an orchestra, “What would you have done if the sniffer had come in here yesterday? Huh? I mean, worst case scenario, they guess the correct reason and you get tortured and killed. Best case scenario, they think you’re an addict and you get fired and probably go to prison. Neither are good scenarios!!! It was only _yesterday_, Steve! There is no reason they won’t come in again! And I _know_ that stuff stinks! Why the _hell_ would you take that risk?!”_ _

_ _“Take a breath, Danny” Steve interrupted, worried that his friend – his _guide_ \- would blow a gasket, or worse, start projecting his feelings to the whole palace – or all of O’ahu. And then they’d be fucked._ _

_ _“Don’t tell me what to do!” Danny exploded, but took his advice and took a deep breath, then pointed at Steve, “You need to go home and get rid of _that_! And make sure it’s out of your system before coming back here”_ _

_ _“Danny, it doesn’t smell when it’s in my body, I don’t need to – ” Steve started._ _

_ _“Do you want to take the chance? Huh? Because I don’t!” Danny exclaimed, his hands waving again, then he sighed, “Do I… Do I need to get Catherine here?”_ _

_ _“Again with Catherine! Danny, she’s just a friend!” Steve exclaimed, frustrated with his partner, so much for trying to broach the idea that they should run away together and bond. Lovely hot, sexy bonding. The kind that the old romance novels used to write about – his auntie may have kept a few as keepsakes._ _

_ _Steve must’ve given Danny a sappy look – or else broadcast his feelings to him – because suddenly it looked as though the man finally understood. “Oh, oh, you mean….” He finally said._ _

_ _“Yeah” Steve responded so eloquently – because that’s what the guys said in the romance novels, he inwardly rolled his eyes at himself._ _

_ _“Oh” Danny answered, “Well, I mean…. You’re still…”_ _

_ _A knock on the door interrupted them, then Kono’s head appeared in the doorway._ _

_ _“What?!” Danny snapped, then looked and saw who it was. He scrubbed a hand over his face, “Sorry Kono, what’s up?”_ _

_ _“We have a lead” Kono responded, looking back and forth between Steve and Danny, “We have a location”_ _

_ _“No, we – ” Danny pointed at himself and Kono, “Have a lead, he – ” he pointed at Steve, “Is going home”_ _

_ _“For the record, Danny, Steve’s right. It only smells when in the vial, not when in the body” Kono told him, then turned to Steve, “And boss, Danny’s right about you needing to get it out of here”_ _

_ _Steve blinked, then exchanged a look with Danny, “How much of that did you hear?”_ _

_ _Kono grinned, “All of it, it’s not like either of you were being quiet. Also…”_ _

_ _“He was right, wasn’t he?” Danny asked, obviously referring to the sniffer’s judgement that Kono was a Sentinel._ _

_ _Kono nodded, then looked at Steve, “I figured you both missed seeing me… because you were so…wrapped up in one another”_ _

_ _Danny grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Steven, go home, take that crap with you. I’ll talk to my people, try to work something out”_ _

_ _Steve couldn’t help the grin the started working itself across his face as he winked at Kono, then grabbed the pack and left the office._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's hoping this has satisfied this part for now, and as always, more to come. Let me know what you think!   
I keep having a good idea of where I want the chapter to go, but when I start writing it, it comes out wonky and not exactly how I wanted it. This one came out a bit back-to-front, but I think it still works :)


	10. Chapter 10

Steve was nearly home when he heard it. The call for backup over the radio was interspersed with gunfire. Chin sounded calm, but Steve still regretted leaving when he did. He should be there with his team.

At least there wasn’t the dreaded ‘officer down’ call. Still, Steve didn’t give it a second thought before he swung the car around and sped in the direction of the call for assistance. He ignored the beeping from the other cars on the road, he hadn’t even _nearly_ hit them! Besides, his Guide was in danger.

Switching on the lights and sirens helped, but only slightly. There were still idiots on the road, who just froze when approached by the emergency vehicle, rather than getting out of the damned way.

As he approached the scene, he realised with a shock that he’d beaten HPD there. He got as close to the abandoned looking building as possible without the vehicle getting peppered by bullets, then quickly stopped the car and jumped out. 

“Hey boss!” he heard Kono call from behind her cover several metres away.

“Where are the others?” Steve yelled back to be heard over the gunfire, but he was already stretching his hearing to locate them. He identified Danny’s heartbeat first, on the far side of the building, then found Chin’s close to Danny’s. 

Once he accounted for them both, he listened again for Danny’s heartbeat, the sound comforting to him. Even if the man’s heartrate was a bit elevated. Before he could consider why Danny’s heartrate was as high as it was, his attention was rapidly drawn to a strong scent that had his inner Sentinel roar with rage.

Steve tried to stop the inevitable, but it was a losing battle. The smell of Danny’s blood triggered something primal in him, making his world go red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one today, the next one will be longer - I think.


	11. Chapter 11

Kono watched Steve’s truck approach with unease. There was no telling how the man – or more to the point, the Sentinel – would react to this scenario. It didn’t take a genius to see that Steve was barely holding it together, so putting him in a situation where his Guide was not only in danger, but had been shot, didn’t equal a happy ending.

Steve jumped out of his truck, firing a few rounds, before ducking behind some crates.

“Hey boss!” Kono called, getting his attention so he could get a better understanding of where everyone was.

“Where are the others?” Steve yelled back, his voice nearly getting drowned out by the gunfire.

“Danny and Chin entered from the other side of the warehouse” Kono called back, but from the looks of Steve’s face, he hadn’t heard her. He was probably doing his own recon of the place.

Then a small gust of wind picked up the scent of Danny’s blood, wafting it in their direction. The smell made Kono uneasy and she growled in anger before she could stop herself. She glanced back at Steve in time to see his eyes go black and she knew this was not going to end well. Her mouth dropped open slightly and she let out an “Uh oh”.

Steve jumped up and fired his weapon with pin-point accuracy, hitting two of the shooters before he’d started moving. He moved quickly, quicker than usual, shooting as he went. He took down multiple shooters before he entered the warehouse.

Kono ran to catch up, tracking his movements with her other senses as Steve disappeared from view. She heard him run out of ammo, but he continued his rampage by using bodily force. He easily disposed of any of the would-be attackers before they even knew what was happening.

After what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, the sounds of the attackers dropping like flies stopped and was replaced with talking and rustling, and someone was keening – she suspected it was Steve.

“Steve?” she heard Danny ask, then, “Come on, Steve, babe, look at me. Hey, hi, yeah I’m here, I’m okay, it’s just a through and through. No damage, I’m going to be okay. Here…. feel that? I’m okay” 

Danny continued the monologue, apparently trying to get through to their leader, who had stopped the keening. 

Kono finally entered the same room and stopped in the entryway for a moment. Danny was on the floor, propped against the wall. Danny’s shirt was hitched up, exposing one of his nipples and his chest. Steve, on the other hand, was covered in blood – blood that Kono would bet a year’s salary was not his – and had lost his shirt.

Steve was keeping pressure on Danny’s shoulder with one hand, whilst his other roamed over Danny’s chest, back, neck and nipple. Steve sniffed around Danny’s wound, making small keening noises as he did, then inhaling Danny’s scent from the crook of his neck, his tongue flicking out to taste the skin. Steve was straddling one of Danny’s legs and was rubbing his groin against Danny’s knee in clear want. 

Kono figured Steve was struggling with trying not to bond with Danny right there and then, and the only thing holding him back was probably Danny’s injury. That, and Danny was holding himself back – after all, it takes two to tango.

“Guide” Steve whispered brokenly against Danny’s neck, then peppered the area with butterfly kisses.

“Steve, not now” Danny responded in the same tone, “Not yet, but soon”

Kono heard vehicles approaching and hoped Steve had too, they’d both be done for if HPD walked in on this. “Danny, Steve, HPD are – ” Kono abruptly stopped talking as Steve leapt to his feet and growled at her.

Everything about Steve’s body language screamed at her to back-the-fuck-off. Then as if she hadn’t already gotten the message loud and clear, a black panther appeared next to Steve. The panther hissed at Kono, then bared it’s teeth, a low guttural growl coming from its throat.

“Steven! No! _**STAND DOWN**_!!!” Danny commanded, his voice heavy with ‘Guide voice’ as he did.

Thankfully, the panther disappeared, and whilst Steve didn’t stop staring at Kono, he wasn’t charging towards her either. Kono briefly wondered if he stayed where he was because he was: worried about Danny, was listening to Danny’s guides, or whether he recognised Kono and didn’t want to hurt her.

Kono felt Chin getting closer and tried not to let Steve onto the plan, but not far behind, HPD were closing in. She hoped they could calm Steve down before HPD entered, it wouldn’t just be Steve they’d take in, it would be all of them. And once the centre started the _Testing_…. Well, by the end of it, anyone would capitulate to being gifted.

“Steven” Danny muttered, diverting the feral Sentinel’s attention back to himself, then he spat up a bit of blood, letting it roll down his chin. Kono frowned, she hadn’t thought Danny’s wound was that bad…but there were more pressing things to consider.

Chin suddenly appeared next to Kono, looking out of breath as he nodded to her. Then he stood up and shot Steve with the stun-gun specifically designed for out of control Sentinels. Steve’s nostrils flared with rage and he took three steps towards Chin, before he fell to the ground.

“Quick” was Chin’s only indication that he’d deliberately knocked out their boss, before wrapping his arms under Steve’s underarms and indicating Kono should take his legs. Between the two of them, they stuffed Steve into a janitor’s closet and shut the door before HPD came charging up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut this chapter in half because it didn't have enough angst if I didn't... Hopefully it doesn't seem undercooked...
> 
> I'm also hoping I didn't underbake Steve's feral episode? I mean, there were enough dudes that he ran outta ammo, but not enough that he went on a rampage - I mean, he still broke plenty of necks...
> 
> Anyway, thoughts?!!!! Comments are what keep my muse happy and entertained! :D


	12. Chapter 12

“HPD, FREEZE!” came the calls as the officers stormed the room.

“We’re five-0” Chin told them, carefully showing his badge.

Almost as a unified effort, Kono and Danny threw the badges a few metres from their positions and indicated they were also five-0.

“Ow” Danny said as he threw his badge, his good hand going to his shoulder. Before she even knew she’d moved, Kono was hovering above him, placing pressure on his wound.

“Don’t” Danny warned her, as if he could read her inner thoughts, as though she had any control over her inner Sentinel. Didn’t he know that she had very little control over herself when a guide was in danger, let alone when they were injured?

“Could you call a bus” Chin asked the officers, watching as they finally accepted that they were on the same side. One of the officers walked away from them and called it over his radio.

Chin crossed his arms and stood guard outside the janitor’s closet. He knew he would need to get back in there, and soon, to properly sedate McGarrett. The stun tended to last for around 10 minutes, which for their boss, probably only meant five. But more to the point, the stun didn’t tend to have any effect on making a feral sentinel normal again, which meant that McGarrett would either try to tear the place apart or try to bond with Danny.

“I’ve gotta go to hospital” Danny said softly to Kono.

“You said it was just a through and through” Kono gasped, obviously trying not to let on to the officers that something else was going on here.

“You guys good in here?” the officer who’d remained in the room asked.

“We’ll manage” Chin answered.

The officer left the room, but hung around outside it with the other officer, clearly swapping stories of their involvement in the raid. Chin exchanged a glance with Kono, indicating that he was going to try to get back in the closet to give Steve the sedative. But before Chin move, they heard someone else come up the stairs. 

“Danny! We have to stop meeting like this!” Duke greeted as he entered the room, a grin already plastered on his face. “Are you okay? A bus is on the way, I think the ambulance started rolling as soon as they heard five-0 were in a shootout” he looked seriously at Danny’s shoulder.

“Just a scratch” Danny shrugged, then cringed when the movement jarred his shoulder.

Duke gave him an assessing look, then asked, “Where’s McGarrett?”

“He didn’t feel well, so he went home early” Chin answered.

“Oh” Duke responded, then went to leave, before adding with curiosity more than anything, “It’s just, I saw his car here”

“I drove it” Chin and Kono answered at the same time, then exchanged glances with one another.

“I drove Steve back to his place, then out here” Chin clarified, with a small nod to Kono.

“I was going to drive it back afterwards” Kono added, with a self-deprecating grin.

“Good to see you’re all okay” Duke told them.

A thump from the closet had the Danny glancing at the door in worry, whilst Kono and Chin deliberately tried not to look at the door.

“Did you hear that?” one of the officers asked, coming into the room.

“Mongoose” Duke said, with a shake of his head, “Those things can wreck havoc”

“Probably a family of them” Chin agreed.

The officer raised his eyebrows and gave a small nod, then left the room.

“I think we’ve got it from here” Duke told the officers, with a wave to indicate that they should go back down the stairs. The officers did as they were told, their voices drifted back as they left.

Another thump from the closet and what sounded like a broomstick falling made the team feel more nervous than before. But unexpectantly, Duke pointed at the closet and said, “I think you better deal with that family of mongoose before they destroy the closet. We’ll be downstairs if you need anything”

“Thanks Duke” Danny responded, trying to keep his facial expression neutral.

As soon as Duke disappeared from view, Chin went into the closet to find Steve clumsily trying to get to his feet. The stun tended to have a lasting effect on coordination. As McGarrett turned his head in Chin’s direction, he saw that, as expected, his eyes were still as black as the night.

Chin acted quickly; his right fist connecting with Steve’s face with enough force to stun him again, whilst his left hand grabbed the sedative from his pocket and plunged it into Steve’s thigh. The quick release syringe quickly shot the sedative into Steve’s bloodstream and had the desired effect. Chin grabbed Steve and helped him back to the ground so he wouldn’t fall and injure himself. Chin breathed a sigh of relief, then after checking the coast was clear, exited the closet.

Danny and Kono were having a whispered conversation when Chin approached them. “It is just a scratch” Danny was saying, his voice tinged with something soothing.

“Don’t!!!” Kono snapped, realisation of what he was doing making her a little grumpy and a lot panicked. Any _gifted_ within a small proximity of the warehouse would know that Danny was using his guide persuasion.

“Sorry” Danny said quickly, the feeling gone now. “I just… Steve will have to… He can’t go to the hospital, not now. Anyone, probably even a sensitive would be able to figure out what just happened. And you saw his pupils… When the sedatives wear off, he’ll still be … out-of-touch. And he’ll still want to….”

Danny eventually gave up trying to talk about what they needed to talk about, without saying words like _feral_ and _bond_, settling for, “He has to go after HPD have left… And… You can’t come with me, so…”

Kono started getting wound up, getting ready to give Danny a piece of her mind about how females were no less effective in the field, when she realised that Danny meant that Steve would take offence if she left with Danny because she was also a Sentinel. She wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere near Danny until he was bonded. It didn’t matter that she was Ohana.

Chin knelt beside Danny and put pressure on Danny’s shoulder, ignoring Danny’s gasp. “You’re right, just a through and through” he said.

“Still hurts like a son of a bitch” Danny grumbled.

Chin grinned, then his expression turned serious, “But you coughed up blood earlier…?”

Danny’s expression turned sheepish, “Steve wasn’t listening, so I sucked up a bit a blood from my shoulder and spat it, making it seem like – ”

“Like it was worse” Kono interrupted.

Danny shrugged, “He wasn’t listening. Anyway… Kono, you can’t come with me to the hospital”

“I understand” Kono responded, “I’ll take care of Steve”

“I’ll come with you” Chin volunteered, “You’re not going there on your own”

As they talked, Kono heard the disturbance downstairs, then the paramedics were amongst them. Danny refused to be carried down to the ambulance, and started to stumble down to them – but Kono suspected some of it was an act. As Danny passed Kono, he quickly whispered ‘take care of him’ into her ear. Then in a louder voice, he said, “Call Lt Catherine Rollins if you need help”

Kono watched the ambulance fade into the distance, wishing for a moment that she’d asked Chin to stick around. She wouldn’t be able to move Steve on her own, not without a great amount of difficulty. And it would be so much more helpful to have someone to help her out with that.

But for now, she just had to wait until HPD vacated the scene. She made herself look busy, examining blood stains and various other piece of evidence.

“My first crime scene was a lot like this” a voice to her left suddenly said.

“Oh?” Kono asked, not in the mood to talk to anyone.

“I’m Officer Pua Kai, I don’t know if you remember me” the officer told her.

“I don’t think so, I’m sorry this is a pretty stressful time for me” Kono said carefully, hoping the young man would disappear.

But instead, it looked like the man was getting more comfortable, “That’s okay, these things have a way of shaking people up”

“Officer Kai, I suggest you go get started on your paperwork” a voice interrupted the young man’s musings. Kono breathed a sigh of relief and went to thank the newcomer, before realising Duke was back.

“He gets a bit excited sometimes” Duke explained, “He’ll make a good detective one day, but he needs to hold back a learn the ropes first”

Kono smiled at him, “Sounds like you know what you’re doing”

Duke grinned at her, “I should think so, I’ve been doing it long enough. I was disappointed when you didn’t graduate from the academy, I was looking forward to mentoring you”

“I had a disagreement with an instructor” Kono responded, as she looked out over the crime scene.

“I heard” Duke responded.

The two of them stood together, in a not-entirely comfortable silence, until finally the last squad car left. Kono turned to the Captain with a put-upon smile, “After you”

But Duke sighed, “Officer Kalakaua, Kono, I know I don’t know you well and haven’t known you long, but I hope you can trust me. Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do” Kono answered automatically, not really thinking about the answer, she just hoped the man would disappear with enough time to take Steve to a safe place before the sedative wore off.

“That’s good. Why don’t you say that we get McGarrett out of here?” Duke asked, his eyebrow raised as if daring Kono to question his conclusions.

“Steve’s back at his house” Kono negated, with a frown, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Duke frowned, then explained, “I know you don’t trust me, but John McGarrett did – and he was a friend. Kono, I want to help and I know you need it”

Kono eyed up the SGT before eventually opening the cleaner’s door, “We had to sedate him” she explained.

Duke just nodded and grabbed the other side of Steve, then stopped and looked Kono in her eyes, “Do I need to ask how you plan to regulate him after this… episode? And before you ask, I’ll make sure the autopsies point to gun shots or self defence rather than…what they look like here”

“Mahalo Duke. We do have a plan, I don’t know what the long term one is though ” Kono responded. 

"It can be tricky" Duke responded.

The two lapsed into silence as they carried Steve down the stairs and through the abandoned warehouse.

“Kono, if you need any help, call me” Duke told her as they finished loading Steve into the back seat of his truck.

Kono gratefully took Duke’s card and waved as she drove away, hoping she hadn’t just made a huge mistake…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's hoping this one lived up to your expectations :) And thanks for all the comments, it's great to see when I'm hitting the mark - and sometimes I get better ideas on how to move forward when I've read them. 
> 
> Also, if I didn't explain the sedative in the syringe well enough - because I couldn't think of the right words - it worked like an epipen, but had the sedative in there instead. The syringe and the stun gun are held by all LEOs for dealing with feral Sentinels.


	13. Chapter 13

Danny groaned and slid into the passenger seat of Chin’s car. The medical staff had wanted to admit him overnight for observation, but it was too risky. He argued that they’d patched up his shoulder and that he would follow their strict bedrest guidelines, he didn’t need to stay for observation because it wasn’t as though he’d hit his head.

“You going to live?” Chin asked as he got into the driver’s seat.

“Barely” Danny groaned, but it wasn’t the gunshot wound that was hurting the most. As soon as Steve had acknowledged – in his ever so subtle way – that he was his guide, he felt an increasing need to be near him. More so than before. And being so far away from him, and when he was injured no less, made his empathy levels spike and his emotions spiral.

Chin grinned at the response and drove them away from the hospital. Eventually Chin sighed, “What are you going to do?”

Danny turned on the radio, fiddling with the channels until he found one that was playing the screaming music. The chances of their conversation being heard whilst driving were minimal, even a high performing sniffer would struggle to pinpoint which vehicle a conversation was occurring in. But it never hurt to be on the safe side. Sentinels tended to avoid the yelling music and had difficulty hearing through it. Hence why it was good as white noise.

Without turning to Chin, Danny finally answered, “About the bonding? Well that’ll have to happen. The disappearing for a week and a half will be the problem”

“A week and a half? You think it’ll take that long?” Chin asked, only his eyebrow raising giving an indication about his surprise.

“Yeah, it’ll be longer because Steve went feral” Danny responded. Suddenly, he felt like laughing hysterically. The mirth didn't belong to him, so he tampered down on it, but couldn't help a small giggle escaping 

Chin gave him a strange look and Danny apologized, waving his hands to try to indicate his wayward emotions.

Thankfully Chin got the point and moved the conversation along, “And what happens once you’re bonded? Won’t it be easier for the sniffers to sniff you out?”

Danny sighed, “I don’t know, I don’t think so. I think it’s harder for them to sense us, because we’d have twice the amount of power to draw from”

“Twice the amount of people to shield” Chin argued.

Danny pursed his lips, Chin was right. He had no idea what would happen once they were bonded. “Take the next exit” Danny instructed Chin, his good arm pointing to the highway.

Chin did as he was asked, then responded, “We’re not going back to Steve’s?”

“Not yet, I have an idea” Danny answered. If he was right, he had a solution to the disappearing act he and Steve needed to pull off. And if he was wrong…. Well, he just hoped he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there, slowly but surely. Sorry for the short chapter, the next should be a long one. And it shouldn't be too far away, see how much more I get done tonight...
> 
> As always, let me know what you think! :)


	14. Chapter 14

Thankfully there was no one in the waiting area when Danny and Chin walked in, but Danny showed the receptionist his badge anyway, with Chin doing the same. The receptionist didn’t take long to confirm they could go in, then showed them to the psychologist’s office.

“Detective Williams” the Doctor – Sasha Graham – greeted him. She got up from her desk, but didn’t offer her hand, “And my assistant didn’t catch your name?”

“Detective Chin Ho Kelly” Chin responded, shooting subtle questioning glances at Danny.

Dr Graham turned her attention back to Danny, “I hope you’re not here to make accusations again, Detective”

Danny grimaced, it wasn’t as though he’d forgotten how he’d parted terms with the doctor the last time, but he was hoping the time would have mellowed her more since he all but accused her of kidnapping and killing her boyfriend’s wife – a client. “Uh no ma’am, completely different business all together” he said, figuring it didn’t hurt to be a bit over the top.

“Then what can I do for you?” Dr Graham asked, her body language still screaming that she was pissed.

“Last time I was here, I noticed you do team bonding – uh, building. Team building exercises. Do you have anything that goes for a week or so?” Danny asked, quickly pushing some energy against her shields to indicate that he was a Guide. He’d felt that she was also a Guide when he was interviewing her six months ago, but didn’t think any more of it until now.

Dr Graham raised her eyebrows and cleared her throat, “Of course, let me show you to the conference room, we have some of the brochures set out on the table”

“Thanks” Danny responded, following her lead.

As they walked down the corridor, Dr Graham asked, “Are you and your team having issues?”

“We’re part of five-0, the Governor’s new task force. I thought it would be great to do something like this before we get too busy, you know start on the right foot” Danny answered.

Dr Graham hummed under her breath, then went into the conference room. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Danny’s back teeth started to ache and he started to get a mild headache, a sure sign that the room was sound proofed.

“Okay, what’s the situation?” Dr Graham asked as she leant against the table, then pointed at Chin, “Who are you?”

“I’m a latent Guide” Chin responded.

Danny nodded, “The situation is that I’ve found my Sentinel and we need to bond, sooner rather than later”

“But you’ve just started a new taskforce together and can’t just disappear together so soon” the doctor concluded, “How long have you known one another?”

“A week and a half. He kept it from me until yesterday. I put two and two together when I caught him taking Ketamine” Danny answered, before realising his face was wet and his lower lip had started trembling. He wiped the tears off his face and cleared his throat a few times, trying to get his wayward emotions under control. “Sorry” he muttered. 

The doc merely nodded that she understood, “You said your Sentinel took Ketamine”

Danny sighed, “I sent him home, but he came back when the team were under fire. He went feral when he realised I was injured”

“We had to sedate him” Chin added, “Another Sentinel took him back to his house and called another Guide, I think she used to be his temp-Guide before he came here”

“Okay, is there any thing else you need to tell me?” the Doctor asked and when she only got shaking heads, she asked, “Do you know what your capabilities are? Or his?”

“I’m high performing, I was able to get tested a few years ago in an underground lab, they said I’m a five” Danny answered, “And I’ve seen him use the magic three senses, but I wouldn’t be surprise if he has the other two developed as well”

“But he hasn’t done anything that might indicate he can use the other two” the Doc summed up, “Is there anything else about him that indicates he might be more capable than other Sentinels? Sometimes they have particular behaviours that show they are more or less advanced”

Danny concentrated for a moment, trying to ignore the feeling that he wanted to burst into tears and curl up on the floor. He needed to get back to his Sentinel, it was starting to affect him more than he was expecting, just another reason it was a good idea to skip out on staying overnight at the hospital. “Yeah, sometimes and I’m sure he doesn’t realise he does it, but he can project what he’s feeling” Danny finally responded.

The Doc sighed, “This complicates matters”

“Why?” Chin asked, moving to sit down on one of the chairs.

“How much do either of you know about how the grading of Sentinels works? Or how the levels correspond to the length of time it takes to bond?” the Doc asked them, as she also took a seat.

“Not a lot” Danny answered, “I know of the magic three senses – sight, hearing and smell – and that most Sentinels are level threes because they have them, but not the others”

“Correct” the Doc affirmed, “A Sentinel’s grading is based on how many enhanced senses are active. The number of Sentinels at each grade is like a bell shaped curve; the majority have three enhanced senses, with less having two or four, and less again having one or five”

“Makes sense” Chin said.

“From what I’ve heard, the capabilities of Guides are similar, but harder to grade” Danny added, then leant against the wall, the distance from his Sentinel making him nervous and ready to fight if threatened. Not that he felt threatened at all from the two people in the room.

“That’s also correct” the Doc said, “But the grading of Sentinels is misleading, at least at the higher end. In practice, there would be a sixth level. But when the Centres were doing the testing many, many years ago, the sixth level was never recognised – that’s how few Sentinels were that high functioning”

“What’s the difference between a level five and a six?” Chin asked.

“Projection” the Doc answered, “All Sentinels who can project are level fives, but not all level fives can project, that’s what sets them apart. That would be why those that can project should be a level above”

“So Steve is a level six?!” Danny exclaimed, then started to pace the room. This was a lot to take in. 

“Yes. And I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear that your combined levels directly correspond to the amount of time it will take you to bond” the Doc told him, then clarified, “Lower levels take less time, higher levels take more time”

“So a week and a half – ?” Danny asked, not bothering to finish the sentence.

“As the Australians would say, you’re dreaming” the Doc answered with a small grin, then her expression sobered, “A pair of level threes may complete the bonding and nesting period over a week. There are no hard left or right of arc, but of course yours will be longer. It may be two weeks, but I wouldn’t even be surprised if it went for three”

“THREE WEEKS OF BONDING?!!! Are you crazy?!” Danny shouted. It’s not that he wasn’t up for crazy hot sex with Steve for that amount of time, but there was only so much sex a guy could have.

“It won’t all be for the bonding, you’ll need time to nest as well. The nesting period is usually longer than the bonding. Maybe one week to bond and the rest to nest, I don’t know, we are in unchartered territories here” the Doc said, “But I do know this, it won’t be short. Your Sentinel could still sense your injury, despite being doped up on Ketamine, which means he has most likely started imprinting on you” she continued.

Danny leant against the wall for support, he wasn’t surprised to hear what he suspected anyway, he shouldn’t have felt as bad as he did when Steve wasn’t around if they didn’t already share an imprint. He finally asked “Shouldn’t that make the bonding shorter?” 

“You would think so, but no, it means that the bonding will be more intense and probably last longer” the Doc responded, “And I suspect you’re already aware of the effects of your Sentinel going feral. The key now will be keeping him calm until you can bond. You mentioned he was taking Ketamine earlier, if he still has some, he should take it. And so should you”

“I don’t need it” Danny said, almost believing it himself.

“Wait a minute, I’m lost. I thought only Sentinels took Ketamine?” Chin asked.

“Guides take Ketamine for the same reasons that Sentinels do, but there is a certain stigma among our kind to those that do” the Doc explained.

“How do you know all of this? How many of your kind have you helped?” Chin asked, his detective side of him getting the better of him despite the circumstances.

“The less you know about me the better” the Doc answered, then added, “The earliest I can get you out there is tomorrow midday”

Danny closed his eyes, he was starting to feel distress, but this time, the emotion wasn’t someone else’s. They needed to bond _NOW_, why the hell had Steve not said anything sooner?

“Where is ‘out there’?” Chin asked, thankfully taking the heat of Danny for a moment. The man clearly needed a moment.

“Kauai” the Doc responded, “We have a cottage there, with a homestead several miles away. Detective Williams – Danny, if this is what you want, you need to let me know now. There is a lot to organise. Do you need approval from your chain of command before this ‘team building activity’?”

“We’ll just book it” Chin responded.

“I can have a program emailed to you with the breakdown of the two weeks to appease your superiors. I think initially we should aim for two weeks, then if you and your Sentinel need longer, I have some tricks up my sleeve” the Doc told them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY! This took longer than expected, hope it delivers what I want it to. Hope you enjoyed it! :P
> 
> As always, let me know what you thought! Comments ease my soul and feed my muse! 
> 
> Happy to hear good, bad, suggestions, questions, doubtful points. Sometimes it reminds me that I forgot to explain something.... Something like --
> 
> Unbonded Sentinels and Guides have a shorter life expectancy, they wouldn't expect to live much more than about 55 years. Higher level Sentinels and Guides may be earlier. In the remaining few years, unbonded Sentinels and Guides have sensory spikes/zones and empathic spikes/emotional distress more regularly and will usually take Ketamine to take the edge off.


	15. Chapter 15

Kono opened the front door to Steve’s house and eyed the lady on the doorstep. She’d only briefly met Catherine yesterday at the office, but her mind had been elsewhere. And wow, this woman was beautiful! Even in her navy cams, or maybe because of, she was – just wow! Even in her mind, Kono felt lost for words. 

“I don’t think we’ve officially met yet, I’m Catherine Rollins” Catherine introduced herself, extending her hand.

Kono nodded shook the offered hand, “Steve’s told us absolutely nothing about you” she said, then mentally headslapped herself. 

“Come on in” Kono said, getting out of the doorway. They didn’t need any nosy neighbours asking too many questions. 

When Catherine had come inside and shut the door, Kono introduced herself, or at least intended to, the words that came out in a gasp were, “God, you’re gorgeous!”

Catherine blushed, then frowned in concern, “We’re not going to have a problem here, are we?”

Kono mentally head-slapped herself again, of course the woman would be suspicious that she was her Guide. “No, nothing like that, you’re not my… soul mate. I think one set is enough, don’t you?”

Catherine gave a small grin, “Speaking of, how is he?”

“Still knocked out” Kono started as they made their way upstairs, “I gave him another sedative when we got in, just in case, and I retrieved this from the car”

Catherine glanced at the small box Kono was holding, she didn’t need to open it to know it held the Ketamine inside. After all, she was the one that procured it for Steve. “Have you given him any?”

Kono shook her head, “I have no idea how much to give him, I’ve never even seen it before today. I’ve reinforced his …blankets, but I know you can do more for him than I can”

“Yeah, I can see them” Catherine responded as they entered the master bedroom, knowing that Kono would catch on that she was just trying to keep up with the metaphor.

Catherine took off her boots and socks, then her outer jacket. This could take a while, there was no reason not to get comfortable. She got up onto the bed next to Steve, but not touching, then sat crossed legged and indicated Kono should sit on the other side of him.

Once Kono was settled, Catherine nodded and said, “Let’s begin”

****

Danny put his head against the car window and tried to calm his nerves. At least the brief visit to the Governor had gone well; Jameson had bought the team building exercise hook, line and sinker. It probably helped that she’d been privy to more than one of Steve and Danny’s bickering sessions, one of which had happened in a very public place. Jameson had pulled them aside and told them to knock it off and to sort themselves out.

He’d had a harder time selling the length of time the activity was going to take. But thankfully, Chin had stepped in and outlined a few factors – the travelling time to Kauai, Danny’s injury, and Steve’s ‘flu’. He didn’t know why Jameson hadn’t told them to just postpone it for another week, but she must have figured they needed the time if they were asking for it.

“You okay?” Chin asked, glancing at him with a concerned look.

“Yeah, just tired” Danny responded, being uncharacteristically quiet, but his head was spinning. It wasn’t just that he was tired, although that was certainly a factor, trying to keep his emotions in check whilst being at the Palace had cost him more effort than he was willing to admit. But it would have been worse if he’d had an empathic spike. 

“Nearly there” Chin told him, focussing back on the road, and thankfully pressing his foot harder on the accelerator.

The rest of the journey passed in silence and before they knew it, they’d arrived at Steve’s. Danny barely waited for the car to come to a halt before jumping out and running inside. He barely paid any mind to Catherine and Kono, who were in the lounge, instead he took the stairs two at a time to get to the master bedroom.

When he saw Steve laying in the middle of the bed, Danny’s headache started to fade a little bit and his shields felt more stable than they had all day. Danny grinned and went forward, intending to curl up beside his Sentinel, but he only went a couple of paces before suddenly stopping as if he’d hit something. 

Steve’s emotional imprint, his shields, his energy, it all felt wrong. It had another Guide’s imprint all over it. It made Danny want to manhandle Steve into the shower, but it wasn’t the kind of imprint that could just be washed off. 

Danny felt his walls crumbling and he knew that if he didn’t get a grip, his shields would shatter. But his distress was stronger than his will, and he started to panic. He didn’t know whether to scream or whether to curl up in a ball and cry his little heart out, but it felt like his heart was breaking.

“Danny!” a sharp voice had him spinning around, and then he was face-to-face with the culprit. The Guide who _dared_ to touch his Sentinel!

He growled and suddenly felt Kip, his cougar, at his side. Kip was also growling at the Guide, baring her teeth.

“_**Danny Williams, snap out of it!**_” the Guide commanded, but she wasn’t as strong as he was. He shook off the command as if she had barely spoken. 

Danny was ready to rip out her throat with his bare teeth, when a friendly face appeared next to the Guide and marked her. Then the Sentinel turned back to Danny and spoke, “Danny? You with us?”

Danny flicked his eyes between Kono and Catherine for a moment, before silently commanding Kip back to the other plane. He turned back to his Sentinel and tried to reconcile what he’d just learnt with the emotional outlay around Steve. He could now feel that it wasn’t just Catherine, but also Kono, who had tampered with Steve’s shields.

And he knew that he’d asked them, not in so many words, but he’d asked them to help him. But it still felt wrong. He tried to move forward, all he wanted to do was snuggle with his Sentinel and kiss him and be kissed. And to merge their bodies and souls … but he couldn’t do that, not yet. They still had to wait until tomorrow. 

For now, he would have to settle for snuggling. He tried moving forward, but the change in Steve’s emotional landscape just felt too wrong. It was like trying to walk over coals or over water, and he didn’t know how to navigate it. Danny felt himself start to tremble and before he knew what was happening, he was softly sobbing. He couldn’t hold it back anymore; he was tired, he’d been shot, he was in pain, and he’d finally met his Sentinel, but they had to jump through so many hurdles before they could bond.

He vaguely felt the sharp pain in his neck, then everything faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explanations will be in the next chapter, they didn't really fit well in this one.
> 
> As always, hope you liked it! Loving the comments, thank you all! :D


	16. Chapter 16

“I can’t believe you just licked me” Catherine said, trying for indignation, but failing epically.

“I bit you a little too” Kono responded shaking her head minutely, trying to shake off the effect of the white noise generated from the TV, but of course it wasn’t going to work. Instead, she tried acting as though it wasn’t affecting her, “It wouldn’t have worked otherwise”

“It seemed to calm him down a bit” Chin remarked. After Chin had sedated Danny, Catherine had run forward to catch him before he’d hit the ground. Then they’d carried him to the bed and placed him next to his Sentinel. Kono had offered to help, but neither had let her even step a foot in their direction.

Catherine touched her neck with her hand, “I think I liked it” she admitted.

Kono grinned, then said, “Chin, I think Catherine and I should take the guest room tonight, you know, to be closer in case something happens”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” Catherine responded, then clarified, “I have to be back at work tomorrow morning – ”

“You’re not coming to Kauai with us?” Kono interrupted.

“No” Catherine confirmed, “I told my boss I had a family issue that I need to address, and I know he knew I was talking about Steve. It was kind of an open secret that we were seeing each other when we were serving. But he’s still expecting me back at work tomorrow. I can get some time off in a few days though, maybe I can meet you in Kauai…?”

Kono couldn’t help the pout that creeped across her face, “But maybe we could at least …you know”

Catherine smiled, it was clear Kono was referring to sex, or at least a surface bond. “I think it could complicate an already complicated situation. And you’ve already said that this situation doesn’t need that kind of complication” Catherine explained, trying to let her down gently. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t interested, she was. But as she’d said, one thing at a time.

“On that note, I’m outta here” Chin announced, leaving the master bedroom.

Before Kono could respond, a knock at the door had everyone casting glanced at one another.

“Are we expecting anyone?” Kono asked Chin, as she drew her sidearm.

Chin copied his cousin as he replied, “No”

Chin led the way down the stairs, then positioned himself to the side of the door, ready to act if needed. Catherine followed, with Kono bringing up the tail. Once Catherine was in front of the door, she placed her hand on the handle and glanced at Kono, who positioned herself two metres behind Catherine, with her sidearm hidden from view behind her body.

Kono nodded at Catherine that she was ready and Catherine cautiously opened the door. An elderly gentlemen stood on the other side of the door, he looked harmless, but you could never be sure about these things.

“Hi, can we help you?” Catherine asked, her voice sounding welcoming enough, but the body language screamed at him to leave.

“Good evening, young lady. I’m Frank Thompson, I live just down the road” the man responded, pointing down the road as he spoke.

“Mr Thompson!” Chin exclaimed, putting away his sidearm and moving out of his position, “What are you doing here?”

Frank smiled, “Officer Chin Ho Kelly, well I never… How are you, son? And no need to call me Mr Thompson, Frank is fine”

As Chin and Frank were talking, Kono noticed another older gentleman standing out the front of Steve’s house. The man had just been approached by a younger guy. Kono tuned into the conversation, wondering what the hell was going on.

_”Hey man, have you seen a black chihuahua? I lost the little guy and the missus is going nuts” the young guy said _

_ “No, sorry” the older guy responded. _

_ “Yeah, bugger. Okay, well if you see one…” the young guy said, his voice trailing off. _

_ “I’ll let you know” the older guy said, nodding. _

_ The young guy scratched his head for a moment, then nodded towards Steve’s house, “Everything okay in there?” _

_ “Everything’s fine” the older guy responded. _

_ “Okay, well just let us know if you need anything” the young guy said, then walked off back in the direction he’d come from. _

Kono tuned back into the conversation with Chin and Frank. “Actually I’m a detective now” Chin was saying, then turned to Kono and Catherine, “Frank here used to work with John”

“I trained him” Frank added, “But that was a long time ago now, I retired from the force about 10 years ago”

Chin grinned, “It’s great to see you, but what are you… how can we help you?”

“Well, may I come inside?” Frank asked, “It’s a bit cold outside at the moment and I’m not getting any younger”

“Of course” Chin responded, stepping out of the way.

But before Frank came inside, Kono asked, “Is he with you?” indicating the guy out the front.

Frank smiled, briefly turning around, then looking back at Kono, “Yes, he is my … Patrick. He’s like Steve. If I come inside, I can explain. Patrick said he wants to stay outside, he said he wants to keep watch” 

Kono frowned, but indicated he should come in. As soon as Frank came inside, he went into the lounge and turned on the TV, switching it to the channel that worked as a white noise generator.

Catherine closed the door behind Frank and waited for the older gentleman to explain.

“So I think first things first, I’m a Guide, and Patrick is my Sentinel. I’m here to check on the Guide who was in distress a short time ago” Frank explained.

“How far down the street did you say you live?” Catherine asked.

“We’re at the end of the street, the Guide projected his distress quite strongly, but it was over very quickly. I would say that Sentinels and Guides within a mile felt it, and maybe even a few strong Sentinels and Guides felt it within two miles, but not over three” Frank told them, “That’s why Patrick is waiting outside, to move on any of the Sentinels or Guides that come looking to help”

Frank seemed to get a look of their faces, then tried putting them at ease, “Oh, don’t you worry about them, they’re Sentinels and Guides from around the neighbourhood. Patrick made sure that there weren’t any unidentified gifted in the vicinity”

“You know the gifted in your neighbourhood?” Catherine asked.

“You have a pack?” Kono asked, but it was more of a statement.

Frank smiled, “Of course we know the gifted in the neighbourhood, some don’t make it easy to identify them though, but they eventually reveal themselves. We also keep an eye out for the non-gifted folk. And we haven’t called it a pack for years, we were banned from having packs back before the current laws, but essentially, yes” 

“John McGarrett told us to keep an eye on young Stevie if he ever came back. We’ve been watching him from afar these last few days, but he seemed like he would have viewed it as an intrusion if we approached him” Frank continued.

“You’re probably right” Chin said.

Frank nodded, “He’s had a bit of a rough trot recently, hasn’t he? Can I see him? And his new Guide? Oh, it’s all very exciting isn’t it?!” 

Catherine snorted, “I don’t think that’s a word they’d use to describe it”

Frank grinned, “Well, ask them again after they bond”

Kono and Chin exchanged glances, silently communicating that they could trust the older man and that it was okay for him to approach the sedated couple. “You can see them, but no touching” Kono told him.

“Understood” Frank responded, then followed Kono as she took him upstairs, “I feel like there’s a story to that”

“There is” Kono said as she opened the door to the master bedroom. She nearly jumped when she saw the two spirit animals on the foot of the bed. The black panther was laying on its side, letting the cougar pet it, growling softly from time to time. The cougar had a paw resting on the panther’s head, as though to keep it still, whilst thoroughly cleaning the panther’s face. 

Both animals warily watched as Kono opened the door, but seemed content when they didn’t enter, and went back to the cleaning.

Even sedated, Steve and Danny had migrated together. Steve was playing big spoon, plastered against Danny’s back. Both men were still out cold, but thankfully they looked peaceful. Kono just hoped it would last.

Frank watched them for a while, then nodded and stepped out of the room, “Okay”

Kono closed the door behind them and remarked, “We had to sedate them”

“Why? I know why the Guide was sedated, but not why Stevie was” Frank asked as they made their way back down the stairs.

“He went feral when Danny was injured in a shootout” Kono explained.

“Oh yes, that’ll do it” Frank remarked, “So you patched up his shields when you got him back here?”

“Yeah, with Cath’s help” Kono answered.

“That’s why Danny went nuts” Catherine added, “I didn’t think Guides got possessive”

“It’s not a trait commonly associated with Guides, no” Frank confirmed, “Tell me exactly what happened”

Catherine relayed the story to Frank and watched his reaction closely, she could tell that he knew something. But when she was finished, he just hummed with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Don’t forget about his eyes” Kono added, “They were a bright green”

“He had glowing green eyes?” Chin asked, looking sceptical.

“No brah, his eyes were bright green and seemed bigger than usual, but they weren’t glowing” Kono explained.

“Amazing” Frank shook his head, then when he realised they all turned to look at him, he explained, “I have heard of this before, but not for many, many years, maybe even centuries. The old historical books spoke of this happening, but I have never witnessed it myself, not even before the current laws”

Frank took a seat in one of the armchairs, and indicated the team should do the same, “Apologies, my legs are not what they used to be. Now, where was I? Ah yes, now if you went back at least 200 years, you’d find a shift in attitudes towards Guides over Sentinels. Sentinels were very much used for merely an early warning system, usually during combat or to defend a homestead, like a castle. Guides on the other hand were much more highly valued, they looked after the wellbeing of the people and could greatly influence powerful people, however, they numbered more”

“If an unbonded Guide came across an unbonded Sentinel, and if they were compatible of course, they would lay claim to the Sentinel in the form of shoring up their shields. It was a sign of ownership, before such a time as they could complete a bond. If another unbonded Guide already had intentions towards the unbonded Sentinel, but hadn’t left an imprint on the Sentinel’s shields, they would challenge the other Guide to a duel” Frank explained.

“To the death?” Kono asked dubiously.

“Of course” Frank responded easily, with a shrug, “Or at the very least, until one of the Guides backed down. The books talked of when the challenge was issued, the Guide’s eyes issuing the challenge, would glow green. Some spoke of the green symbolising jealousy, whereas others spoke of it symbolising hope that the other Guide would back down”

Frank glanced at Kono, “I imagine that when you came into the room and marked your Guide, Daniel realised that there was no threat, that nobody was going to take away his Sentinel”

“It probably didn’t help that it’s been nearly two weeks since Steve and Danny met and they haven’t bonded yet” Chin added, “And that he’d been shot”

“There are many reasons why Daniel’s emotions are frayed” Frank allowed.

“So how’s Danny going to be able to bond with Steve when Steve’s shields have our imprints on them?” Kono asked, worried that she’d screwed up.

“Oh, no need to be worried about that, Stevie’s energy will wash over those areas and make it as though it’s his own. Think about it this way, if there was a hole in the wall, you would plug it with plasterboard, sand it back and then paint over it. You and your Guide added the plasterboard and did the sanding, Stevie will paint over it. Nobody will know the difference unless they look very closely” Frank responded, “And believe me, Daniel will be preoccupied with other things”

Kono breathed out a sigh of relief and exchanged a glance with Catherine, at least it could be salvaged.

“So, the bonding is going ahead tomorrow?” Frank asked.

“Yes, in Kauai” Chin answered, “Danny organised it through a Guide that advertised team building experiences”

“Oh, do you mean Sasha Graham?” Frank asked, then when he got nods from the team, he added, “She’s a wonderful young lady, she will make sure your friends get what they need to have a successful bonding experience. Now, I mustn’t stay much longer, Patrick doesn’t like being away from me for so long. Do Stevie and Daniel have a plan for how they will stay hidden once they are bonded?”

“I think we all thought it was going to happen naturally” Catherine responded for all three of them, when she saw the looks of Chin and Kono’s faces.

“Oh, far from it” Frank said, then stood up, “But never mind that now, have Sasha give us a bell before they come back. Well, it was very nice to meet you all, and very good to see you again, young Chin”

“Very good to meet you too” Catherine responded, as they all got up from their seats.

“Great to see you again” Chin said.

“Mahalo Frank” Kono added, then turned off the TV, she’d had enough of the white noise for a lifetime. The sudden silence seemed deafening, until she picked up on the normal night noises.

The team took turns shaking the older man’s hand and saw him to the door. “Now, don’t you worry about a thing, Patrick and I will be on watch until you leave tomorrow. I have no doubt Patrick will actually roam the streets, he can be a bit wild like that”

“I heard that” they heard Patrick call from the street.

“You were supposed to, hunny” Frank responded, then with a wink at the team, he disappeared out into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a difficult one to right, but I think I got there in the end. I meant to explain everything from the previous chapter and I think I got them all, but let me know if I've missed something and I'll try to put it in the next one somewhere.
> 
> Enjoy! Let me know what you think! :P


	17. Chapter 17

Sasha watched as the big pick up truck made its way over to where the private chartered aircraft was sitting on the hardstand. She’d been waiting out here since sunrise; first for the small fixed wing aircraft to land, then taxi, then she waited for the other passengers to present themselves. 

The early morning flight, together with the somewhat quiet airfield, and the furtherest parking space on the hardstand, meant there wouldn’t be any prying eyes. Which was good because she suspected Detective Williams’s Sentinel to be fully doped up for the transport, and it would look more than a bit suspicious if they were seen carrying the leader of the Governor’s taskforce, unconscious, onto the private chartered aircraft.

The pick up truck came to a stop not too far from the aircraft, and Detective Kelly got out of the driver’s seat, followed by a woman she didn’t know getting out of the passenger’s side.

Sasha smiled and approached the man, “Good to see you again Detective Kelly, I trust everything went smoothly?”

“Please call me Chin” Chin responded “And good to see you again too, Doctor, yes everything went as smoothly as it could. Our companions may be a little tired and painfree for the foreseeable future. This is Officer Kono Kalakaua, my cousin and also part of the five-0 taskforce”

“Please to meet you” Sasha greeted her, extending her hand, “And please, call me Sasha, we’re going to get to know each other quite well over the next few days”

Kono shook the offered hand, “We may need a hand getting – ”

Before Kono could finish, Sasha waved at her team to move forward, “Already taken care of, we won’t this to go as smooth as possibly”

They watched as the team split into two, then extracted Steve and Danny from the back seat of the pickup and put them in wheelchairs. They wheeled them the short distance to the aircraft, then carried them up the stairs, then they disappeared from sight.

“They’ll get your bags as well” Sasha told them, then moved forward, “Shall we board? We should be okay to taxi as soon as the luggage is stowed, the air traffic control tower said there wouldn’t be much traffic in vicinity of the airfield until 1100”

********

Danny jerked awake, wondering briefly what’d woken him. But the sounds and inertia of the aircraft he was on, braking hard, alerted him to the fact that he was on an aircraft. He noted that his head, everything actually, hurt less than it usually did. Which meant someone had given him painkillers. He knew he should be angry at them, but a- he couldn’t muster the energy, and b- he was incredibly thankful that he had a reprieve from the constant pain he’d been in for about a week.

He lifted his head from the awkward angle that it had been on and noted that when he moved, he dislodged something that was rested on his head. Danny frowned and found Steve sleeping soundly, a bit too soundly, beside him. He must have fallen asleep on his shoulder, and then Steve put his head on top of his. 

Steve now had his head on the headrest, but his head was resting at a steep angle and it looked awkward. Reaching over with his opposite hand, Danny made Steve’s head rest on his shoulder. He wasn’t sure if it would be more or less comfortable, but he felt like they needed to stay in constant contact. 

The last thing he remembered was arriving back at Steve’s house, then….nothing. He figured he’d been sedated, he recognised the signs, but he didn’t know why. 

“Nearly there” a voice spoke from his left.

Danny glanced over and found Chin smiling at him. “Where are we?” he asked, his voice feeling scratchy and sore… had he been screaming?

“Kauai” Chin responded.

“Team vacation!” a voice clearly belonging to Kono piped in from behind him.

Danny nodded, he wanted to ask more questions, he wanted to know what had happened in the interim since what he last remembered, but the pull of sleep was too strong. He closed his eyes to relieve the burning sensation and started to drift.

He must have dozed off again, because the next thing he knew, someone was shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find Chin grinning at him. Danny blinked a few times, stifling a yawn, why was Chin waking him up?

Then the gravity of the situation came crashing down on him, and he found it hard to breathe. What if the bonding didn’t take? What if it did? What if they couldn’t hide themselves once they were bonded? What if someone had found out about them whilst he was unconscious? What if the Governor had seen through his lies and had sent someone to apprehend them? What about Grace? Would they connect the dots and figure she was probably a gifted too?

“Danny, breathe!” Chin commanded him, and it didn’t take a lot for Danny to remember that Chin was a latent Guide. 

Danny watched Chin for a moment, mimicking his colleagues breaths and he tried to get his own under control. He listened to Chin talk him through it, accepting and following his guidance. Chin would be a powerful Guide if he ever came online, not as powerful as Danny, but he would be a force to be reckoned with. And Danny suspected he’d come online, it was just a matter of when. But it felt like he was waiting for something, or someone.

Danny closed his eyes for a moment, taking the moment to reinforce his shields. Then he was accepting Chin’s help to stumble to his feet. Then they turned to Steve, who was still out like a light.

“I’ll take his torso, you take his feet” Danny slurred sleepily. He knew that getting his Sentinel off the aircraft wouldn’t be an easy one, given his own fatigued state, but having anyone else that close to his Sentinel was out of the question. He was only accepting Chin’s help because the guy wasn’t online yet, and of course, he couldn’t do it on his own, not by a long shot.

Between the two of them, Danny and Chin carried Steve out of the aircraft and down to the waiting wheelchair. Once they’d settled Steve into the chair, Danny took the handles and waited for Sasha to show them where they were off to next. And thankfully, it wasn’t that far.

Sasha guided them from the aircraft to a waiting helicopter, which was not too far away. Danny stopped the wheelchair just short of the doors, he’d never been a big fan of these machines. They just seemed far too flimsy in his opinion. Danny levelled a glanced at Sasha, wondering for a moment if she knew about his highly-rational fears about helicopters.

“The homestead is inaccessible from road” Sasha explained, in answer to the unasked question.

Chin positioned himself at Steve’s feet and gave Danny a look, “Ready”

Danny sighed, but counted out aloud to three and lifted Steve from the wheelchair. Once they had Steve settled, Danny watched some guys he didn’t know, load their luggage. Then Kono, Chin and Sasha jumped aboard, and before he knew it, they were flying again. 

Danny settled himself against Steve’s side, resting his head against Steve’s shoulder as he placed his hand on Steve’s thigh and began tracing circles on the other man’s thigh. He felt edgy, his mind and body were keen to start the bonding sooner rather than later. They'd waited long enough to get to this point. But Danny knew that he had to wait for Steve to come back to the land of consciousness first. He would probably need to stake his claim to Danny before any bonding took place, a side effect of him going feral. 

It would be rough, it would be fast. The claiming process was driven by the Sentinel's need to become one with their Guide again - or in the case, for the first time. The sex would at least calm them both and put them in a good place before the bonding process started. Again, that was a process driven by the Sentinel. Danny didn't know how, the book he owned had never gone into specifics. 

Danny ran his hand up and down Steve's chest, the skin on skin contact relaxing him a fraction. He turned his head and kissed Steve's neck, it wouldn’t be long now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there, slowly but surely... :)
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	18. Chapter 18

Danny felt it, rather than saw it, as Steve began to come around. The first indication that he was coming around, took him by surprise and if he’d had any doubts previously about the imprinting that Steve had done on him, well he didn’t have doubts anymore. He couldn’t even describe the feeling, he just knew that Steve felt different to how he’d felt before.

It was a strange feeling. Strange because he hadn’t been aware until that point that he could feel Steve in a way that had nothing to do with physical touch. He hadn’t been aware of it until the feeling began to change; it wasn’t better and it wasn’t worse, it was just different. Different and yet familiar. Familiar in the way that he’d had this feeling before. 

And somehow, in a way that only the Guide inside him was aware of and could make sense of, he knew that the feeling was Steve. The same way he knew that the change in the feeling was Steve becoming conscious again. And it was familiar because Steve had been conscious around him more often than not.

Once Danny’s brain caught up with what he already intuitively knew, he got his second indication that his Sentinel was becoming not only more aware, but more active. Steve took a few deep, but slow breaths, and Danny knew that the Sentinel was using his sense of smell. And as if to confirm his suspicions, Steve canted his head from where it was resting on Danny’s shoulder, to turn his head into Danny’s neck. 

Steve pressed his nose to Danny’s neck and continued scenting him. Then Danny felt the unmistakable feeling of Steve’s tongue on his neck.

“Nearly there, babe” Danny tried to sooth him, even as he felt through the strange link Steve’s arousal.

Danny caught sight of Sasha’s eyes glancing at them through the rear view mirror. He had no doubt that she knew what was going on. But he reminded himself that they could trust her. It certainly calmed his inner Guide that she was already bonded.

_They had landed in Kauai at an abandoned clearing in the middle of a semi-circle made by trees, between the mountains. The chopper pilot had waited just long enough for them to disembark and unload their gear, before taking off again, disappearing through the trees. Two vehicles were waiting for them at the tree line, to which Sasha had directed them. _

_Danny had waited with Steve and Kono, whilst Chin and Sasha returned with the vehicles. Sasha had been adamant that she would drive Steve and Danny, whilst Chin and Kono should share the second car. Once in the vehicles, she had led the way to the homestead that herself, Chin and Kono would be staying in. Sasha indicated that the others were to go no further than there, then continued driving, telling Danny the cottage he and Steve would be staying in was a few miles down the road._

Steve snapped Danny back to the present as he trailed his nose and tongue further around Danny’s neck, scenting and tasting the whole way. Then his hands joined in, they were uncoordinated in their movements, but his gross motor skills were working just fine. He pushed his far sided hand underneath Danny’s t-shirt and began rubbing up and down his chest.

Steve’s hand stopped over Danny’s right nipple and he flicked the nub with one of his fingers, then began playing with it. Danny bit back a curse as his body began responding to Steve’s actions and he flinched, thrusting his hips into the air. And as if he’d been waiting for that cue, Steve’s hand abandoned his nipple and went south, fast.

“Steve!” Danny ground out as Steve’s hand disappeared under his waistband, they were still in the back of the car, for Christs’ sake! 

Steve growled, but retracted his hand. Instead, he turned to face Danny more fully and captured his mouth, his tongue darting inside before Danny could even register what was happening. Danny found himself moaning into the kiss and pulling Steve impossibly closer. He just wished they were there already! He wanted – no, he _needed_ \- to be pressed up against Steve’s hard, naked body. He _needed_ Steve’s cock inside him. He _needed_ Steve to fuck him and to fuck him hard.

He vaguely felt the car come to a halt and suddenly he was being wrenched from the seat by Steve. But Steve hadn’t counted on his body still being sluggish because of the sedatives and they nearly fell to the ground when Steve got them out of the car. Danny couldn’t help but be thankful, despite wanting, _needing_ this as much as Steve, he didn’t like being carried like some damsel in distress. Instead, they stumbled together towards the cottage, never taking their hands off one another.

Then Steve staggered, taking Danny with him to the ground, which was thankfully soft grass. Steve didn’t bother trying to get to his feet again, instead, he climbed on top of Danny and ripped Danny’s shirt off. Then he was sniffing around Danny’s shoulder, where he’d been pegged by the bullet. He began making soft keening noises and as much as Danny wanted to comfort him, he knew that the best way for him to be comforted was for him to figure out for himself that Danny was going to be okay. 

The more he sniffed, the louder he keened. Then Steve carefully took off the bandage over Danny’s wound and began to inspect it. He sniffed it first, then placed his hand on top of it – much to Danny’s discomfort. Then he licked it.

“Steven!” Danny bit out harshly, more from the pain then anything, and not to mention the germs!

Steve ducked his head at Danny, and Danny finally noticed that – not unexpectedly – Steve’s eyes were as black as the night, indicating that the feral Sentinel was in control.

“Guide!” Steve growled lowly, then began plundering his mouth again, apparently satisfied that Danny’s hurt was, just like he said, only a scratch.

Danny moaned into the kiss and lifted his hips, incidentally pushing himself against Steve’s ass. Steve grumbled his approval and ripped open his pants – popping the button off one of Danny’s favourite pair of pants, not that either of them cared right now – and they found, to both of their surprise, that Danny was going commando. 

Steve licked his lips as he freed Danny from the confines of his pants and roughly start stroking him, as his other hand was trying to find his hole…

“Steve! Inside, let’s do this inside” Danny said between gasps, he could so easily just get lost in the sensations, but he wanted this to be private.

“Guide!” Steve growled, apparently not able to form coherent sentences. Danny had his doubts about his friend’s ability to form coherent sentences when he wasn’t feral, which meant he had next to no chance with him like this.

“Steven, babe, the cottage is just there” Danny tried one last time, but only got a non-coherent growl in response 

“**_SENTINEL!!!_**” Danny exclaimed, using his Guide voice, he threw some shielding around himself and Steve, hoping that the reduced stimuli would help, “**_Get in the goddamned cottage!_**”

“Danny?” Steve asked, apparently finally recognising him, but nowhere near any less feral, “I’ve gotta …”

“I know” Danny responded, and he did, he knew what needed to happen, “But I don’t want to get grass stains on my ass”

“I love your ass” Steve grumbled, lowering his head again to nip at Danny’s nipple.

“Steven, babe, focus!” Danny commanded, slapping Steve’s ass to get his attention. Then when he saw Steve watching him intently, Danny pointed at the cottage and said, “Cottage! Now!”

He swore that Steve nearly saluted him and called him ‘Sir’, but he stumbled to his feet and helped Danny up. They staggered uncoordinatedly to the cottage, Steve stumbling up the stairs and slammed them both into the side of the cottage.

“Ow” Danny couldn’t help but comment.

“You ‘kay?” Steve slurred, panting hard from the short walk. He was clearly still very much under the hold of the sedatives.

“Yeah” Danny had barely breathed out the word before Steve had latched onto him again. He pushed his face into Danny’s neck and fumbled with the button on his own pants, instead just ripping them open the same way he’d done Danny’s. Unsurprisingly, they found Steve had gone commando as well.

“Steve” Danny tried to get through to him again.

Steve bit Danny’s neck as he grabbed both of their cocks and started stroking them. But before Danny had the chance to use his Guide voice again to tell his wayward Sentinel to get _inside_ the damned cottage, the sound of a car door closing distracted Steve.

Steve’s head shot up from where he’d been nuzzling Danny’s neck, and stared back at the woman in the car they’d come in. Steve growled in warning as they listened to Sasha start the car, and finally leave. Danny wasn’t sure if Steve would have chased after the car, probably roaring like the animal he was, if he hadn’t had his hand on Danny’s cock at the time.

Danny took the momentary distraction to quickly unhandle his cock from Steve’s hand and dart inside the cottage. Thankfully, he didn’t have long to wait for Steve to follow him inside.

“Guide!” Steve growled as he caught up to Danny, all but barrelling into him and bringing them, once again, crashing to the ground.

Steve rolled to his knees quickly, then pushed Danny pants to his knees. He grinned devilishly and pushed his face into Danny’s groin, inhaling deeply. He turned his face and began licking along the side of Danny’s cock, whilst his other hand attempted to locate Danny’s hole. 

After a very short time, Steve growled in frustration, apparently realising that Danny needed to open his legs wider to expose that sweet spot. He pushed at Danny’s pants again, trying to get them off of the other man, but failing because Danny was still wearing his shoes.

“Babe! **_Steven babe, STOP! Wait! Let me_**” Danny commanded him, quickly toeing off his shoes.

“I need to …” Steve panted, struggling with keeping control, “Danny…I need…”

“I know” Danny responded as he shucked his pants, then quickly got up and explained, pointing to demonstrate, “Couch”

“Couch” Steve repeated, almost glued to him like Velcro as the other flopped down on the couch.

Danny couldn’t help the sigh of contentment as he finally had padding under his ass. He lifted his knees to his chest, exposing himself to his Sentinel. And he watched as relief washed over Steve’s face.

“I need…” Steve tried, still fighting to keep control. He climbed on top of Danny and once again grasped Danny’s cock. 

Before his other hand moved, Steve pumped some moisturizer from the bottle on the table onto his hand, coating his fingers. Then Steve was inserting the first finger, followed shortly thereafter by the second. 

Danny could see that Steve was fighting so hard to prep him enough, his hands were shaking. Steve added a third finger, then started begging, needing Danny to be ready.

“Do it” Danny told him, his own cock rock hard against his stomach.

Steve breathed out in relief, and lined himself up, then pushed himself in, not stopping until he was fully seated. He didn’t stop to give Danny time to adjust, he pulled out and rammed himself back in. This was how it was supposed to be. A claiming was supposed to be quick – pleasurable to both parties – but it had to be driven by the Sentinel, for the Sentinel. It was the Sentinel claiming their Guide. Marking them – usually by cumming all over them, in them, around them.

Steve set a rapid pace, hammering into Danny’s body as though he was trying to win a race. And maybe he was. It was over far too quick; Steve’s hips stuttered, then stilled. And then Danny could feel the warmth inside him as Steve came deep inside him. As Steve came, he bit down on the connecting tissue between Danny’s neck and his shoulder, biting hard enough to draw blood.

Danny yelped in surprise, he hadn’t been expecting that. Steve licked at the spot, then abruptly gave up and pulled himself out of Danny’s body. Danny bit back a groan of disapproval as his ass felt empty.

Then Steve glanced up at him and Danny realised that his Sentinel wasn’t done yet, his eyes were still large and black. He was still feral. Then Steve lowered his head and engulfed the head of his cock…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it begins...kinda... 
> 
> Hope you liked it... :P


	19. Chapter 19

Danny bucked his hips as Steve lapped at his cock like it was an ice-cream. Danny groaned and raked his hand through Steve’s hair. The sensations were driving him wild, the wet heat of Steve’s mouth nearly sending him over the edge. 

“Mmmmnth” Steve moaned, looking at Danny through his eyelashes. His eyes were still as black as ink and Danny couldn’t help but think of how he would look when he was no longer feral.

Danny felt Steve’s cum seep out of his hole and down his ass. He clenched his cheeks together and vaguely wished they had a plug to keep it in, which was a feeling he hadn’t had before. It made him wonder if the feeling belonged to him or his Sentinel. 

Danny looked down at Steve again as Steve abandoned his cock and pushed Danny’s knees up to his chest again so he could get to his ass. Then Steve was licking his ass, around his hole and over it and in it. As he licked him, Steve wrapped his hand around Danny’s cock and pumped it up and down.

When Steve was done licking his hole, he licked a trail up to his balls, taking each one into his mouth, one at a time. 

“Steve” Danny couldn’t help but groan, he was so close, he just needed more.

Steve moaned and licked up the underside of Danny’s cock, then abruptly engulfed the head again. He began sucking so hard, his cheeks hollowed out. 

Groaning with pure lust, Danny grabbed hold of Steve’s hair and began thrusting hard into his mouth. He rapidly felt his climax approaching, and tried to warn Steve. But the Sentinel sucked harder and pushed a finger into Danny’s hole.

“Steve!” Danny gasped, his hips bucking as he ejaculated down Steve’s throat. 

Steve tried to swallow it all, but some spilled down his chin. Steve kept sucking on Danny’s cock until Danny was totally spent, then he licked Danny’s cock until he captured every last ounce of semen. 

Danny groaned and watched as Steve finally finished, then he looked up at him again and to Danny’s surprise, Steve’s eyes were still black. Danny frowned, he’d always thought that the whole claiming process was a short one. Granted the books had never gone into detail about what exactly it entailed, but he’d thought that once the Sentinel came over or inside their Guide, it would be over.

Steve grabbed his own cock, which to Danny’s fascination, was half-hard again. Danny frowned, wondering what his Sentinel had in mind, but from the look on his face…

“Steven, you are not going to urinate on me!” Danny exclaimed.

“Guide” Steve rumbled, still looking like he wanted to.

“_**No Steven!**_ There will be no urinating! Unless it’s in the bathroom! You’re such a Neanderthal” Danny told him, “Geez!”

“Mine!” Steve growled.

“Yes, yours, but no pissing on your Guide!” Danny responded, barely having the time to get the words out of his mouth, before Steve crawled up his body and kissed him harshly. 

Steve began thrusting himself against Danny as he devoured his mouth. And to Danny’s surprise, he found he was also getting hard again. He briefly wondered if there was some funky claiming voodoo going on that allowed for shortened recovery times, then realised he didn’t care, it just felt too good.

Then Steve reached between their bodies and grasped both of their cocks, jacking them hard and fast. As he stroked them, his tongue mapped out Danny’s mouth, his tongue almost matching the crazy fast pattern that his hand was setting.

Danny’s gasp was swallowed by Steve, and then he was trying to thrust himself to meet Steve’s pace. It didn’t take long, both men already on edge and the need to connect was strong. The pace of their thrusting and Steve’s hand on their cocks got frantic. Then Steve gave a strangled gasp “Guide!” and pumped his hips as he ejaculated between their bodies.

Danny felt Steve shudder, and the hot streaks of semen coated his stomach pushed him over the edge. He groaned and spilled his seed between their bodies, coming in pearly white streaks.

Steve trailed soft kisses down Danny’s neck, then stopped to trail his fingers through the mess on Danny’s stomach. He lowered his head and licked from the top of Danny’s groin, through the mess, and up to the base of his neck. Then Steve kissed the rest of the way up, and stopped to thoroughly kiss Danny’s mouth again. By the time he was done, both men were exhausted. 

“Love you Danny” Steve whispered, then sighed and rested his head on Danny’s shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

Danny blinked tiredly at Steve’s hair for a moment, then put his head down against the armrest of the couch and followed his Sentinel to the land of sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Danny woke up after what felt like ten minutes, but was probably closer to an hour. He still felt incredibly groggy, but he felt a little bit better after his nap. He slowly and carefully extracted himself from under Steve, who was still passed out and half lying on top of him.

He climbed to his feet and looked around the place. It was nice enough, they were in the lounge room, which had a big couch in front of a small TV and a fireplace on the far side. The other side of the room backed onto the kitchen, which reminded Danny that he’d skipped several meals – and so had Steve.

But first things first. Clothes. And he suspected they would be located in the bags that Sasha had taken out of the car earlier, before she got the X-rated show.

Danny didn’t bother to dress as he exited the cottage, after all, there was no one around for miles. He walked over the lawn and grinned when he saw the cooler bag as well as the duffel bags. Putting the duffel bags over his shoulder, he was able to carry all three bags inside at once.

He dumped the bags in the bedroom, cringing when they dropped heavily. But a glance at his Sentinel showed he was still out for the count. Then he disappeared into the bathroom and showered, getting all of the grime and sex off from the last day and a half.

Once he was done, he threw on a pair of boxers and went back out into the kitchen to look through the cooler box. There were mainly pre-made sandwiches inside, along with a few of the essentials, like milk. He guessed that pre-made sandwiches made sense, they probably wouldn’t have the headspace, nor the inclination to spend more than 10 minutes, to make themselves a proper meal once the bonding began.

Danny grabbed one of the sandwiches – turkey with cranberry jam – and virtually inhaled it. He couldn’t remember having been this hungry before, and as if to echo his thoughts, his stomach growled loudly.

“Somebody let a bear in?” a voice murmured into his ear.

“I don’t know about a bear, but there was definitely a wild animal in here earlier” Danny remarked as Steve rested his head on Danny’s shoulder and put his arms around Danny to hug him close.

“Just one?” Steve asked as he nuzzled into Danny’s neck.

Danny opened another sandwich and took a big bite before answering, “That’ll change once we begin the bonding. Speaking of which, you really need to shower before we do anything”

“Mmmm, come with me?” Steve agreed, as he lowered Danny’s boxers suggestively.

“No” Danny said with regret, “If I did, we’d risk starting the bonding process early”

“Nothing wrong with that” Steve responded, snagging the other half of Danny’s sandwich and shoving it into his mouth.

“Hey! Got your own! You Neanderthal!” Danny exclaimed.

“God, I’m starving!” 

“Of course you are! You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning!” Danny told him, “And yes, there is something wrong with starting the bonding process early. You. Need. To. Shower. You stink, you animal. Once we start the bonding, I doubt we’ll have the headspace to shower, which means it could be a week or more before the next time we can get clean”

Steve extracted himself from Danny’s back and grabbed another sandwich, tucking into it with renewed vigour. He asked around his mouthful, “So, what happened anyway?”

“What do you remember?” Danny asked, then started putting the rest of the sandwiches in the fridge.

“I heard you guys call for backup, so I responded to a warehouse down near the docks. I remember getting there, but nothing afterwards, nothing until I woke up here” Steve answered.

“Well, you went feral when you realised I was injured. We had to sedate you at the scene, then hide you until HPD left. Kono got you home, then she patched up your shields, with Catherine’s help. I reached out to someone who could help us, and together we organised for the team to come to Kauai for ‘team building activities’, the Governor bought it, so here we are” Danny explained.

“So… I mean, have we done the bonding?” Steve asked.

Danny smiled, “No, not yet. You were still feral when we got here, so we had to do the whole claiming thing”

Steve nodded like he understood, but Danny could tell he was still unsure. Finally he asked, “How much do you know about bonding?”

“Not a lot. The Sentinel initiates it, and it involves the Sentinel gauging their senses on their Guide, completely opening their shields to let the Guide in. Likewise, the Guide completely opens their shields to the Sentinel and binds the two shields. There’s also an element of connecting to the psionic plane” Danny explained, “I don’t know details though, the book was pretty light on details. I was always told that bonding is intuitive, we’ll just know what to do”

“You don’t believe that?” Steve asked as he finished another sandwich.

Danny shrugged, “I guess I do, I mean, Guides and Sentinels have been bonding for many years, centuries even. I doubt they needed a manual on who does what”

“You know that before things got bad, the Centres used to provide lessons on bonding, right?” Steve asked.

Danny shrugged again, “I didn’t come online until about three years after the laws changed, I never had the chance to have any formal training. Probably a good thing though, given how the Centres were used to track down all of the gifted that walked through their doors”

“True that” Steve responded, then froze and turned to face Danny more fully, “Me too”

“Me too what?” Danny asked with a frown, wondering if Steve was regressing.

“I never went to any of the Centres because I didn’t come online until three years after the laws changed too” Steve answered, watching Danny’s reaction intently.

“And here I thought you came online at 15 years old like normal people” Danny commented.

“We’re not normal people, Danno. I came online in the middle of a firefight on operations overseas, in 2002” Steve told him.

“2002, huh? Okay, uh, okay I’ll bite, when?” Danny asked, although he suspected he already knew the answer.

“Sometime in May” 

Danny nodded and leant against the kitchen counter, “That’s when I came online too, I must’ve come online because of you”

“I suspected as much” Steve said, “How did it happen?”

Danny sighed, “I was in the station, I’d just got a fresh coffee and was going back to my desk. Then it was like someone flipped a switch, suddenly I felt everything. I dropped the coffee and fell to the ground. I don’t remember what happened very well, but Mika got me outta there pretty quickly. He told the captain that I’d been feeling under the weather for a while and that he wasn’t surprised that I’d fainted. He told them that he’d take me to see a doc, but instead he took me to some people who could help me”

“Sounds like a good friend” 

“He was” Danny responded, “He was charged with being a Sympathiser a few years ago. Last I heard, he was in solitary confinement in federal lockup”

“I’m sorry, Danny” 

“Not your fault” 

Steve jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter, “So, are you the only gifted in your family?”

“What are you doing?” Danny asked him, “What’s the matter with you? Go take a shower!”

Steve grinned at him, “Why? Are you finding my sex distracting?”

“Your se- ?” Danny started, then interrupted himself, “Steven, shower, now! You stink!”

“Okay okay” Steve said, jumping off the counter and started towards the bedroom. But as he reached the threshold, he turned around and with a sly grin, he asked “You sure I can’t convince you to join me?”

“Now Steven! Go!” Danny exclaimed, pointing at the bedroom, but he couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. That man was trouble!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope this one hit the mark! :P 
> 
> Let me know what you thought! :D


	21. Chapter 21

Steve came out of the bathroom with only the towel around his waist. He figured that there was no point getting dressed; any clothes he put on would be coming off again in no time at all. He grinned as he thought about having more sex with Danny, hopefully something he’d remember this time.

“Okay Romeo” Danny said from the doorway, “Before we get down to business, I think we need to set some ground rules”

“Ground rules, Danny?” Steve asked, surely they didn’t need ground rules, surely they just needed to get started with the bonding already.

“Yes, ground rules. If we come up for air at any time and are able to think about anything other than you know, sex, we need to eat” Danny said, “We could run into trouble if we don’t eat enough”

“Sounds sensible, what else?” Steve responded.

Danny sighed, “As much as this pains me to say, no attempting to shower until we can be sure that we’re done with the bonding. I don’t want to break a hip because we fell in the shower, I mean, could you imagine trying to explain that to the Governor”

Steve chuckled, “Okay, that’s fair. What else?”

Danny spread his arms, “That’s it, that’s all I’ve got”

“Okay, I can work with that” Steve said with a grin, then made come hither motions, “Come here”

Danny complied, a grin spreading its way across his face, “So we’re really doing this, huh?”

“We can still put a stop to this if you want” Steve said quietly, suddenly scared that Danny didn’t want, didn’t need it the same way he did.

“Are you kidding? Babe, I’m in this 100%!” Danny exclaimed, “What I meant was, the whole bonding thing always just seemed like somebody’s idea of a wet dream, and we’re about to do it. I get to have crazy ass sex with you for a week. And you’re not exactly difficult to look at”

Steve felt Danny’s words warm him up and he smiled at the other man, “You’re not so bad looking yourself”

Danny snorted, then he pulled back from Steve’s grasp for a moment, “Oh, I put a couple of water bottles on the tables, we need to stay hydrated too”

“Roger” Steve answered, then guided Danny backwards until the other man fell on the bed. Steve grinned, Danny was his for the taking. 

He dropped the towel and crawled onto the bed, nudging the other man back until they were in the centre of the bed. As he captured Danny’s lips in a bruising kiss, he felt a haze begin to descend upon them. It was similar to the feeling of a zone, but it felt similar in intensity to when he’d gone feral. The all consuming need to connect with his Guide in the most primitive way.

He abandoned Danny’s mouth and started trailing south. He swiped his thumb over Danny’s chin, focussing on the feel of the man’s skin, then he pressed featherlight kisses around the area. He repeated the process as he moved down Danny’s neck. He stopped in a few places and breathed in Danny’s scent, it was intoxicating.

Steve let out a moan and pushed his nose further into Danny’s skin, he had no idea how he’d been able to work with the man for so long when this smell had confronted him everyday. He turned up the dial on his sense of smell, wanting to drown himself in it. He would bathe in it if he could. Steve flicked his tongue out and his tastebuds exploded with the amazing taste. 

He groaned and bucked his hips against Danny’s thigh, he could definitely come from this alone. He turned up his dial on taste and licked Danny again, and the taste nearly sent him into a zone, but something stopped him.

“Sentinel” Danny moaned and ran his hands through Steve’s hair, effectively stopping the zone before it started.

Steve grumbled and sank his teeth into Danny’s neck, determined to mark him. He sucked until he heard the blood rushing to the surface and he knew it would leave a bruise. He licked over the spot, then continued towards Danny’s shoulder.

As he ran his fingers over the broken skin on Danny’s shoulder, the other man gasped and suddenly Steve could feel Danny’s pain. He grunted in confusion, but continued on his mission. He sniffed around Danny’s wound, then tasted around the area until he was satisfied that the wound wasn’t infected.

Time slipped away as Steve catalogued every inch of Danny’s skin, sniffing, licking and biting as he went. He stopped over Danny’s heart and felt the thud to the beat of the other man’s heart. Then he rested his head against Danny’s chest and listened; listening to the thud of his heart, to the blood cycling through his body, to his lungs expanding, of the oxygen going into his blood stream.

He felt Danny push some energy at his shields, again stopping him from zoning. He figured his Guide was a pretty strong one to be able to stop him from zoning so effectively, and before it even became a zone.

Steve licked Danny’s chest and moved on. After he was done cataloguing Danny’s chest and arms, he moved to Danny’s feet, avoiding Danny’s cock, which was rock hard and flat against his chest. As Steve started moving up Danny’s calf, Danny went taut and gasped. Then suddenly Steve could smell Danny’s semen. He noted that area for later and crawled back up Danny’s body to lick the cum off Danny’s chest.

After he was sure that Danny’s chest was clean, he captured Danny’s mouth again. As he plundered Danny’s mouth, he felt his orgasm approach and rutted against Danny until he coated Danny’s stomach as well. Steve grinned and licked a trail through the mess, there was something totally intoxicating about having his scent on Danny.

Steve finally abandoned Danny’s chest and went back to his work on the man’s legs. After an unknown period of time, he finally got to Danny’s groin and he wasted no time on jumping right in. He started at the join of Danny’s legs, touching, smelling and tasting. Danny’s scent was strong here too. 

He nuzzled into the crook of Danny’s leg and dialled up his senses until it was almost too much. Then he bit the area, smiling when Danny jumped. He licked the bite, then moved onto Danny’s balls. He fondled the balls, feeling every little bit of fuzz, then put them into his mouth, one at a time. 

Danny groaned and bucked his hips. Clearly wanting more, but he would have to wait.

Steve sucked on Danny’s balls as his hand started stroking Danny’s cock. His fine, swollen, red, hard cock. He felt Danny’s cock pulsing as he stroked it up and down. He swiped his thumb over the head of Danny’s cock, collecting the pre-cum and using it as lube. 

Finally, he left Danny’s balls and licked his cock from every angle, before eventually taking the head in the mouth. He bobbed his head and sucked hard, desperately chasing the sweet, sweet taste of Danny’s cum. He dragged his teeth over Danny’s cock and let his hands go back to Danny’s balls. He hummed in contentment and increased the pace, going harder and faster until Danny finally hit his release.

Danny gasped roughly and pumped his hips as he orgasmed hard. The sensations of Danny’s cum shooting down his throat, as well as the smell and taste of it, threw Steve over the edge as well and he found himself coming all over Danny’s feet.

He licked his lips and crawled up Danny’s body, dragging his spent cock over the other man, leaving a sticky trail in his wake. He captured Danny’s mouth again and mapped the inside of it, he couldn’t get enough of this man!

“Turn over” Steve roughly told him. 

Danny complied without a word and lay on his stomach. Steve swallowed heavily at the blank cavass, he knew that before they were done, Danny’s back would be covered in his bites, and probably other bodily fluids. The thought had his cock hardening again.

Steve repeated the process on Danny’s back, starting with his torso, then avoiding his ass and working on his legs. As he went back up to Danny’s ass, he noticed the other man had started to thrust into the mattress. He wanted to make a smart ass remark, but no words came to mind and he didn’t think grunting would achieve the same effect.

He massaged Danny’s ass, then spread the man’s cheeks and inhaled his scent. He followed it up with a swipe of his tongue, then he started eating him out. He started pushing his tongue into Danny’s hole as he went, then replaced it with his finger when a suitable amount of time had passed. As he fucked Danny with his finger, he noticed Danny hand something back to him and realised it was sentinel friendly lube. He made a note to find out more about that later as he uncapped the tube and squeezed it generously into Danny’s hole.

He realised with a start that the lube had no smell, and his grin widened as he realised the only smell would be of him and his Guide. One finger quickly became two, then three. 

“Turn over” Steve commanded the other man, he wanted to see his Guide’s face for this.

As Danny turned over, Steve coated his cock in another generous amount of lube. When Danny settled, Steve took a moment to admire his handiwork and what was all his. He grinned and lined himself up at Danny’s entrance.

“Don’t hold back your sounds, I wanna hear you” Steve told the other man.

“Okay Sentinel” Danny said in a gravelly voice.

Steve pushed his cock into Danny and only stopped when he was completely seated in Danny’s body.

“Oh god” Danny breathed out, then said, “More”

Steve hung on to Danny legs as he pulled himself out, then rammed back in. Both man gasped at the sensations, so Steve did it again and again until the slapping of his balls hitting Danny’s ass and their groans and groans were the only sounds in the room. Then Steve lifted Danny’s hips off the bed and increased the tempo. 

He felt his orgasm approaching, but he held it off, wanting his Guide to get there first. As if on cue, Danny grabbed his own cock and tugged away at it as though he was trying to win a race.

Steve increased his thrusts again and groaned “Ah, fuck!”

Danny echoed his groan, then bit his lip and his hand went impossibly faster around his cock. Then he threw his head back and gasped as he came between their bodies. That was all it took for Steve to finally fall over the edge, his hips stuttered and he felt himself release his semen into Danny’s spent body. He rode out the after shocks before lowering Danny’s hips back to the bed.

He looked at his partner and found him watching him with half-hooded eyes. Steve hummed in agreement and lowered himself to rest on Danny’s chest. He pressed a soft kiss to Danny’s nipple, then let sleep overtake him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bit of a slow-burn, which kind of made it hard to write, but I hope it ticked the boxes. Let me know what you thought! :P


	22. Chapter 22

The first thing Steve noticed as he came to was that his two outermost shields had been changed, replaced by something that felt strangely like Danny. The second thing he noticed was that all of his senses were gorged on everything Danny; his scent, the feel of him, even the taste of him. And the third thing was that he was as hard as a rock.

Opening his eyes, Steve found that they had moved positions during their sub-conscious states. Steve was now playing big spoon to Danny’s little one. 

Steve moaned and pressed his nose to Danny’s neck, kissing it tenderly. He pressed himself against Danny’s ass, his cock sliding against Danny’s cheeks as he rocked back and forth. Danny turned his head and met Steve’s lips lazily, then he picked up Steve’s hand which had been resting on his hip, and slid it ever so slowly down the front of his body to finally grasp his cock. His cock which was as hard as Steve’s, and leaking pre-cum.

As Danny set the rhythm, Steve thrust himself again his ass, trying to get his cock into Danny’s hole. Then after far too long trying, but not succeeding, Steve kissed Danny in apology as his hand abandoned Danny’s cock to grasp his own and guide it into Danny’s wet heat.

Both men gasped as Steve pushed himself in, Danny’s hole was still stretched and lubricated from earlier. Steve let Danny adjust for a few moments, letting him get used to him again. Then he pulled himself out and slowly pushed himself back in. He continued his slow thrusting until both of them wanted, needed more. He increased the pace of his thrusting, gauging off of Danny strokes of his own cock.

Steve moaned loudly at the sensations. His senses were singing with total happiness at being thoroughly bathed in everything Danny. Then he felt his mind being tickled by something, that same thing he’d felt earlier. It pulled him closer still to Danny. The tickling got more insistent and he found himself opening his shields to let it in. And instantly he felt the difference; it felt like fireworks. 

The sensation was so strong that he felt his hips stutter as he suddenly ejaculated into Danny’s hole. As he rode out the climax, he felt Danny gasp and come on the sheets, his hole tightening around him as his ass clenched. Steve grasped Danny’s cock and helped him milk it.

“Sentinel” Danny gasped, his hips bucking as though he needed more.

“Guide” Steve whispered, then licked his fingers, letting the taste explode in his mouth.

**

Danny groaned as Steve licked his fingers, he could feel the man’s satisfaction over the bond. Before Steve could finish cleaning his fingers, Danny rolled until his hovered over Steve.

“Sentinel” Danny growled, he wanted to say more words. He wanted to explain what he needed to do, but it was as though the bonding haze had reduced his capacity to use words. Instead, Danny leant down and took Steve’s mouth in a bruising kiss. As they parted, he dragged Steve’s bottom lip through his teeth, leaving the skin looking raw.

He licked down Steve’s neck and felt the other man’s arousal pick up again. Steve tried to take control, but Danny grabbed his hands and pinned them above Steve’s head, then growled at him. Steve smiled and lifted his head up for a kiss, which Danny gave in to. Then he was moving again. 

He touched, licked, kissed and bit around Steve’s body. He catalogued where his Sentinel’s sensitive spots were, where his injuries had been, and detailed his emotional landscape. It was beautiful. As he manhandled his Sentinel, he pushed more energy at Steve’s shields, hoping they would lower more. When he was finished with his front, he worked on his back. Time slipped away as he took in all of the details of what made his Sentinel so special.

“Guide” Steve gasped, his hips bucking at Danny finished cataloguing Steve’s back. He’s avoided Steve’s ass – that would come later.

Danny flipped them back over and wrapped his hand around Steve’s cock. 

Steve groaned and tried to thrust himself into Danny’s grip, but again, Danny refused to let Steve take the control. He felt Steve nearly cry in frustration, but he knew that this was the way it had to be. 

Danny crawled up Steve’s body and kissed him, pushing his tongue into Steve’s willing mouth. Then he reached behind himself to take Steve’s cock in his hand again, then guided it to his hole as he slowly sat down. Steve gasped and Danny could feel him trying to hold himself back. 

“Ah fuck” Danny cursed as his hole somehow felt more full than it had before.

Danny started riding Steve’s cock, feeling his own begin to swing as he bobbed up and down. As he rocked, he reached out to Steve’s mind again and pushed at his shields. Thankfully Steve lowered a few for him and Danny was able to fill that space, fill that void with his own energy. He felt their connection grow and he felt Steve more strongly than he did before.

“Steve!” Danny cried out as he hit his prostrate. The shout spurred Steve into action and he grabbed Danny’s hips and began hammering into his body.

Danny cried out again in pleasure, his right hand found his abandoned cock and started jacking it in rhythm with Steve’s thrusts. At the same time, Danny’s left hand went to his nipples to tweak them. He felt his orgasm approach as the heat pooled at the base of his spine, then he was coming between their bodies in pearly white streaks. 

He shouted in release and clamped his ass muscles together, pushing Steve over the edge as well. He felt the other man’s hips stutter, then he gasped and he felt the warmth spread in his ass.

Danny sighed in contentment and released his weight from his thighs, letting himself sit in Steve’s lap. He stared at his Sentinel in bliss, he was quite happy to just sit here for a moment, his Sentinel’s cock still nestled in his ass. Steve grinned at him happily, then he reached up and tweaked Danny’s nipple.

Danny moaned and leant into his touch like he’d been starved of it. Steve tweaked the nipple again and Danny’s cock started to show its interest in the goings on. Steve flipped them over, managing to do it without dislodging his cock from Danny’s ass.

As Steve tweaked his nipple again, Danny felt Steve begin to get hard again. Then Steve’s other hand joined in. He continued playing with Danny’s nipple as he leant forward to kiss him. The kiss lasted for longer of their other kisses and Danny began to feel like a teenager making out again. And like when he was a teenager, his cock was hard and ready to go by the time they were done. 

As they made out, Steve began rocking into him again, the pace quickly becoming frantic. They let go of each other’s mouths and panted against each other in their shared air. Then Steve pinched his nipple hard and Danny came so hard, he swore he saw stars. Steve followed shortly after, filling his hole once again with his seed. 

Steve captured his mouth again, mapping his mouth before letting go. Then he rested his head on Danny’s chest, whilst he tweaked Danny’s nipple again …

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are surprisingly difficult to write, hope it's okay. That last time took me by surprise too - Steve just kept tweaking Danny's nipples...


	23. Chapter 23

Danny woke up slowly, his head still felt like it was full of fuzz, but through it he felt the sensation of thirst. He opened his eyes and licked his dry lips, realising that his mouth felt like the Sahara desert, which was not a pleasant feeling.

He rolled into a sitting position on the side of the bed and grabbed the water bottle that was there, gulping it down in about three seconds flat. Then he grabbed the Gatorade bottle and chugged that down too. But afterwards, he was still thirsty. He briefly eyed the bottles of liquid on his partner’s side of the bed, but something stopped him from leaping across the bed – and sleeping Sentinel – to steal them. 

Instead, he walked to the kitchen and picked up two bottles of water from the fridge. The first one, he drank slower, and gazed around the house. It was light outside, but he wasn’t sure if that meant they’d only been here for one day, or if it was the second day, or the third… He did know that they’d spent a lot of time having sex. 

As if to illustrate, he brushed his thumb over his nipples, which felt bruised, but in a good way. Danny’s cock jumped to attention and began leaking. And then, as though his erect (and wet) penis was a siren call, Steve siddled up behind him and nosed the crook of his neck.

“Water” Danny croaked, taking another big swig of the bottle.

Steve picked the bottle out of his hands and necked it. Then he spied the other bottle of water on the counter and necked that too. Danny groaned; he was still thirsty. But Steve grabbed two bottles of Gatorade from the fridge and threw back one of them, before taking it easy on the second.

Danny stole the bottle of out his hand and drank a good portion, before sinking to his knees in front of Steve and engulfing his cock. At some point, the bottle must have dropped from his grasp and spilt its remaining contents on the floor, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was pleasuring his Sentinel.

Danny bobbed his head, taking as much of Steve’s cock as he could and swallowed around it. His hands tugged at Steve’s balls and rolled them around, making Steve moan deeply and start to thrust against him. Danny grinned and increase his sucking pressure. He started jacking his own cock as hard and fast as he could take it as his climax approached. 

But before he could achieve it, Steve pulled him to his feet and into a rough kiss. Then when he was distracted with the kiss, Steve lifted him onto the kitchen bench and pulled him into a position that left him half seated on the bench with his legs in the air and exposing his hole.

Steve guided his cock to press against Danny’s hole, then slowly and steadily pushed in. Both men groaned at the sensation, which was Steve’s cue to pull out, before roughly shoving himself back in. Both men cursed again, so Steve repeated the process. 

Steve grabbed Danny’s hips and began rocking into him with renewed vigour, as his eyes locked with Danny’s. It was as though Steve was zoning, but none of the usual indications popped up, so Danny knew that Steve was cataloguing. Danny shifted his ass a bit to the left and felt stars explode behind his eyeballs as Steve hit his prostrate. He moaned deeply and strung a few choice expletives together to communicate his pleasure.

Then Steve’s thrusting took on a rapid quality and Danny knew that his Sentinel was close to blowing his load. But Danny wasn’t far behind. He grabbed his cock and began jacking himself hard and fast. His breaths came out in short, sharp pants as he felt his orgasm build. Then he pulled the final trigger by rubbing a hand over his abused nipple, and suddenly he was coming so hard that he blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one today, but I think it's worth it. 
> 
> Someone asked me what day of their bonding it is, and I'm not entirely sure, probably the second or third day. Probably the second. I'm not going to go into detail about every moment / sex of each day, but I'll write enough of it. 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think! :P


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some urine and blood play, if it's not your thing, skip over it. It's only a small part of the chapter.

Steve woke up on the kitchen floor next to his Guide, he hadn’t had the energy to move them far after Danny blacked out. He hummed in pleasure and pressed his nose to Danny’s neck. Everything smelt so strongly of their combined scent and he was loving every second of it. But he did realise that they needed to move, and not just because the kitchen floor was cold, uncomfortable and sticky. 

Steve’s bladder was protesting the however long it had been since he’d visited the head. As if he shifted, Danny mumbled something and tried to keep him in place. Steve’s cock twitched and he longed to bury it inside Danny’s body again and fuck him until he blacked out again.

“Bathroom first” Danny said, as if he’d said his thought aloud.

He felt Danny’s amusement through the bond they were developing and he knew that they would be able to communicate through it once they were finished. Steve rolled to his feet and helped Danny up. Then he plastered himself to Danny’s back like Velcro as he walked, not wanting to lose physical contact. 

His hands gently rubbed over Danny’s hips and his half-hard cock was stabbing against Danny’s lower ass cheeks. Then he pulled Danny closer until his chest was pressing against Danny’s back and his cock slid between Danny’s cheeks. 

“Mmmm” Steve groaned happily as he slid one of his hands forward and up to flick Danny’s nipple. Danny bucked his hips and brought them to a stop, then leaned back in Steve’s embrace. He tilted his head and Steve took the opportunity to kiss him. He’d never get enough of this man’s mouth.

Steve slid his hand down the front of Danny’s body to grasp Danny’s cock. He started stroking him at a leisurely pace, but Danny groaned and stopped him. “Bathroom” Danny whispered, and Steve could feel the other man’s urgency, his bladder was as full as his.

Steve grumbled, but agreed. When they finally got to the bathroom, Steve unplastered himself from Danny’s back and stood next to him as they finally used the facilities.

One, or both, of them groaned as they finally relieved their bladders. Then suddenly, Steve looked at Danny as a different urge overtook him. He felt Danny give the non-verbal okay over the link they shared, then he turned his body and watched with incredible fascination and possessiveness as he urinated on his Guide. He felt the primitive side of his Sentinel jump for joy as he marked his territory.

Then Danny turned to face him too and he felt himself get covered in the warm, golden liquid from his Guide. As if a switch had been flicked, he felt a renewed sense of lust and he lurched forward to capture his Guide’s mouth. His tongue thrust into Danny’s mouth and his hands rubbed down the man’s chest and back, never staying still for more than a moment.

When they both stopped urinating, Steve grasped both of their cocks in one fist and stroked them until they were both hard and leaking. Then he jacked them hard and fast, needing to mark them both with their combined semen. He felt an unexplainable urgency and it made him breathless.

He pulled his mouth off Danny’s and stared into Danny’s eyes as he tried to control his breathing. He felt not just Danny’s understanding, but he felt that Danny was in the grips of the same unexplainable feeling as he was. Then he was coming, with Danny not far behind. They coated each other’s chests in semen once again, the pearly, white substance mixing with the urine. 

Steve let go of their cocks and pushed Danny back, crowding his space until Danny’s back touched the sink. Then Steve cupped his face and shoved his tongue into Danny’s mouth. Danny obliged, his own hands going to Steve’s waist and into his hair, pulling roughly. 

Steve groaned and rocked his hips into Danny, then he latched onto his favourite place in the crook of Danny’s neck. He bit down hard, hard enough that a trickle of blood came out of the wound and would have slid down his chest, but Steve licked it away. He continued lapping at it until it stopped bleeding.

He pulled back from Danny and tried to communicate that his Guide needed to mark him too, but all that came out was a whiny sound. A very manly whiny sound… Thankfully, Danny already knew and was sinking to his knees. Danny gripped his hips, then he licked over the join between his upper leg and hip bone. Then he bit down.

Steve gasped and held onto Danny head to keep himself upright. The smell and taste, even the sound of his blood being brought to the surface, spilling over the abrasions and into Danny’s mouth was sensational. He groaned but stayed still until Danny was done. That strange unexplainable feeling was still there and it was far stronger than before. He couldn’t help the whine that left his mouth, and he felt Danny feel the same way. Then he felt Danny finish the mark as he stopped bleeding.

Steve pulled Danny to his feet, then bodily picked him up, ignoring Danny’s whoop, and carried him back out to the bed. He all but threw him on the bed, then crawled up his body, pushing Danny’s knees up as he went. Their eyes met and Steve pushed himself into Danny’s body. He kept his gaze locked on Danny’s as he frantically pumped his cock in and out of Danny’s hole.

He felt Danny clench his ass together and it was enough to push him over the edge. His hips stuttered as he came in Danny’s body. He waited until the aftershocks had finished before pulling himself out, then he slid his mouth over Danny’s cock. He didn’t have long to wait, as Danny was already close.

He bobbed his head a few times, his gaze never leaving Danny’s eyes. He swallowed around Danny’s cock as he pushed two fingers into Danny’s hole. He found Danny’s prostrate and rubbed it three times before Danny was shooting his load down Steve’s throat. Steve swallowed it all, then licked Danny’s cock clean.

As he finished, he rested his face against Danny’s thigh and briefly wondered what the hell that unexplainable feeling was about. Whatever it was, it had disappeared now. This latest round of sex had cemented something between them.

Steve felt the bond had tightened between them and he idly wondered how long they’d been going at this. It was dark outside when they were in the kitchen earlier, but how many nights in were they? It didn’t really matter, all that mattered was that he had his Guide and his Guide was sated. 

Steve looked back up at the man, and found his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open. Steve grinned, then closed his eyes and followed his Guide into the land of nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, so that happened. The whole urination thing isn't my bag, but I read an AU fic the other day that made me consider that it sometimes has a place. Also, blame Steve, it was his fault, he made me do it. And likewise with the blood thing. Hope it hasn't ruined it for you.
> 
> Also, I don't what the unexplainable feeling was. It was something primitive that affected both of them, to mark each other, and it made them both feel anxious and a bit frantic. I'll figure it out in time.
> 
> Let me know what you think! :)


	25. Chapter 25

Danny murmured something and rolled over. He blearily opened his eyes, then grinned at what he saw. His Sentinel was star-fished on the bed and his cock was jutting out from his body, proudly standing at attention.

He ran his hand gently over Steve’s chest, feeling the smooth skin and dried semen. Danny frowned, but thoughts of showering were not high on his list of priorities. He wrapped his hand around Steve’s cock and began stroking it, slow and steady.

Steve moaned happily and opened his eyes to watch. Danny continued his ministrations as he got up to crouch between Steve’s legs. Then he put his mouth over the head of Steve’s cock and started playing with Steve’s balls.

Steve let him play for a moment, then tried to pull him up so he could put that lovely cock somewhere else. But Danny had either ideas. He batted Steve’s hands away and continued sucking his favourite lollipop. Then he licked down the shaft and down to Steve’s balls. He gave the balls a token lick and rolled them around in his mouth, then he pushed Steve’s knees up so he could get to his main goal.

Steve obliged and pulled his knees up as far as he could, exposing his amazing puckered hole. Danny moaned and licked over it, then he started eating him out. He would have laughed at the mewling noises Steve was making, but he knew he wasn’t being quiet either.

Danny pushed his tongue into Steve’s hole, then flicked it in and out a few times. 

“Guide” he heard his Sentinel say in a gravely voice, then a tube of lube landed next to him on the bed. 

Danny grabbed the lube and poured a quarter of its contents directly into Steve’s hole. Then he pushed his first finger in, watching as Steve’s greedy hole swallowed him up. He groaned at the visual and quickly added a second finger. He thrust his fingers in and out until he felt Steve adjust to the intrusion, then he scissored his fingers and Steve groaned loudly.

Danny kissed Steve’s cock and flicked his tongue over the head, before adding a third finger. Steve let out a string of expletives and was panting harshly. His body pushing back onto his fingers, trying to get more. He was ready.

Danny lined his hard, leaking cock at Steve’s entrance and inched his way in until he was seated. 

“Move” Steve grumbled.

“Pushy” Danny responded, but pulled himself out and thrust back in.

Steve shouted and his cock juttered, releasing a large amount of pre-cum. Which made Danny grin, he’d obviously got Steve’s prostrate on the first go. He pulled out again and thrust back in, aiming for that same spot.

Again, Steve shouted, but this time he managed to roll them over so he was on top of Danny. Danny’s cock was still nestled in Steve’s ass, and Danny would never know how he managed to do that. Steve started bobbing himself up and down, riding Danny’s cock. His own cock was bouncing about and kept slapping against his chest with a wet sound. 

It felt amazing, and he took a visual photo of this image, realising how hot and sexy it was. But he wanted to be in control, not Steve. He grabbed Steve’s hips and thrust up into Steve’s wet heat, his balls slapping against Steve’s ass cheeks. But Steve leant back and grasped his knees, then rolled his hips as he began fucking himself on Danny’s cock. 

Danny grumbled and grabbed Steve’s hips, then flipped them over so he was on the top again. He’d just began thrusting, when Steve returned the battle for dominance flipping them over again. Not to be outdone, Danny went to roll them again, but abruptly found the edge of the bed and tumbled onto the floor. Steve managed to save himself, but then he was worried about Danny.

Danny took the advantage and grabbed Steve and rolled him until he was on top of his Sentinel. Then he pinned his arms above his head. Steve moaned, then lifted his knees to expose his hole. Danny leant forward to capture Steve’s mouth, kissing him thoroughly as he entered his Sentinel’s body.

He continued the onslaught on Steve’s mouth as he began thrusting. Then he picked up the pace and gripped Steve’s hips, lifting them slightly and shifting them to the left. Steve cried out in pleasure, letting his mouth fall away from Danny’s. 

Danny hammered into Steve’s body, then he guided one of Steve’s hands to his cock and they jacked it hard and fast, meeting Danny’s rhythm. He felt Steve’s orgasm approach through their link before he noticed any of the physical signs. His muscles went taut, then he shouted his release, coating their stomachs in his seed. Danny followed soon after, coming deep inside Steve’s body.

Then suddenly, Danny felt the bond flare to life. It was like a living, breathing thing between thing, all rainbows and glitter and shit. Or at least that’s what it felt like. And it that moment, Danny knew that they’d done it, they’d completed the bond. But he hadn’t anticipated the deep lust that came with the bond.

Steve felt it too, his eyes locking with Danny’s in amazement and wonder, love and total lust. His eyes that had the pupils completely blown. Steve flipped their bodies again and began fucking himself on Danny’s cock. And this time, Danny let him take control…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one, but hopefully well worth it!
> 
> Let me know what you thought! Hope you liked it :P


	26. Chapter 26

Steve woke up to the growling of his stomach. He felt like he hadn’t eaten in months! He cracked his eyelids open and stared at the blond head that was resting on his chest, apparently sleeping peacefully.

He remembered snippets of the past 48 hours; the sparks that flared between them as they finally completed the bond, then the desperate lust that accompanied it. He remembered bending Danny over every available surface and basically fucking life rabbits. If making the bond was a marathon, then the aftermath was a sprint. It was almost as though they were testing the bond to make sure it was durable and the overwhelming result was yes, it was.

Steve disentangled himself from Danny and rolled to his feet. He quietly padded to the kitchen and grabbed himself some sustenance. He was halfway through his second sandwich and third bottle of water when Danny finally joined him.

Danny grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and stood there as he chugged the whole thing. Then he threw the empty bottle on the ground and grabbed two more and a few sandwiches, then sat down opposite him on the ground and leant against the kitchen counter. 

The two men sat in silence as Danny feverishly tried to get sustenance into himself.

“Morning” Steve finally greeted him as Danny finished his second sandwich and looked like he was more ready to deal with the world.

Danny spared a glance to the windows, then corrected him, “ ‘S afternoon”

Steve grunted in response and they lapsed into silence again. After a while, Steve commented, “That was something”

Danny snorted, “Five days of bonding and 48 hours of testing its durability – I can think of many adjectives to describe the last few days. I’d start with ‘amazing’”

“_Five_ days of bonding?” Steve asked, “I thought it was four?”

Danny shrugged, “Seven including the last two days – of whatever that was – I think. However long it was, I feel like I could sleep for a week”

Steve finished his bottle of water and started on a Gatorade, “Do you remember much from during the bonding?”

Danny nodded, “Bits and pieces, you?”

“Same” Steve responded.

The two men lapsed into silence again as they finished their meals. Then Danny stood up and stretched, “I need to shower”

“I’ll join you” Steve said. He would have asked his Guide if that was okay with him, but he already knew through their bond that Danny didn’t mind. He also didn’t want to stray too far from the man just yet; their bond was very new and they were still adjusting to it.

Steve followed Danny into the shower, and kissed the back of his neck as Danny tinkered with the temperature settings. 

“Okay, let me do you first” Danny instructed him, “Turn around”

“Mmm, I love it when you talk dirty to me” Steve mumbled, but did as Danny asked.

Danny chuckled huskily but lathered the other man up and made sure the shower gel – also Sentinel friendly – washed every nook and cranny of his body. When he was done with his back, he turned Steve around and repeated the process on his front. He couldn’t help his hands from straying to Steve’s cock and gently stroked him.

Steve’s eyes darkened and he leant in to kiss Danny’s mouth. Their tongues duelled as they fought each other for control, but Danny let Steve win after a while. Then Danny pulled back and Steve knew that the other man wanted to be washed.

Steve lathered up his hands and spread it over Danny’s front, making sure to get off all the grime from the last few days. He kissed Danny again as he rubbed his hands over Danny’s cock until the other man was hard. It took all of his self-control to not go to his knees and suck Danny into his mouth and make him come again.

Danny turned around and Steve dutifully lathered up his back and washed him from head to toe. After he finished, he poured another amount of the shower gel onto his hands and massaged Danny’s ass, then slowly inserted a finger.

Danny groaned and pushed back onto him to indicate that he could take more. So who was Steve to say no? He added a second finger, then a third when Danny pushed his ass backwards again. 

Steve finger fucked Danny until Danny was making small whining sounds in the back of his throat. Then he lathered up his cock at Danny’s entrance and slid in to his welcoming passage. Steve groaned as he thrust in and out of Danny’s ass, he would never get sick of fucking his Guide. He wrapped his hand around Danny’s cock and jacked him in time with his own thrusts. 

“Steve” Danny gasped and thrust into Steve’s hand, then impaled himself on Steve’s cock.

“Danny” Steve groaned into Danny’s neck in response.

Danny wrapped his hand around Steve’s and increased the pace, so Steve obliged and matched his thrusting to the pace that Danny had set. Then he felt Danny tense up, just before he felt the intense satisfaction of Danny’s climax as Danny gasped his name and came on the wall of the shower.

The feeling of Danny’s climax and the sensations of him coming were enough to pull Steve over the edge, and his hips stuttered as he came in Danny’s ass. Steve growled in possessiveness and bit down on the mark he’d made on the join of Danny’s neck and shoulder. This time, he didn’t bite hard enough that it bled, just enough that he heard and smelt the blood rush to the surface.

They stood there in each other’s embrace for a moment as they collected their breaths, then Danny soaped down his chest again to wash away his cum. Steve sighed, but slowly detached himself from his Guide, his cock falling out of his ass, as he washed himself down again.

Once they were done, Danny shut off the shower and they quickly towelled themselves dry.

“Sleep?” Danny asked, and Steve could feel the incredible fatigue not just from himself, but from Danny as well.

“After you” Steve answered, then followed his Guide to the bed. Without a word needing to be said, they stripped the bed and replaced the sheets, before collapsing onto the clean bed. 

“Night Steve” Danny mumbled as he rested his head on Steve’s chest and flung an arm and a leg over him.

“Night Danno” Steve mumbled back, then followed his Guide into the world of dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting there, I feel like there's only about 6 or 7 more chapters left. But there will be a sequel, I think! I have a good idea for one, but I just need the time to do it. So maybe after I've finished one or two of the other fics I've got on the go at the moment, see how I go...
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you thought! Hope you liked it! :P


	27. Chapter 27

Chin sat at the kitchen table in the lodge and put his head in his hands, willing his headache to go away. Ever since he’d arrived at the lodge a week ago, he’d had a small grade headache, but today, it’d gotten substantially worse. He’d been drinking enough water, so it wasn’t dehydration, and he’d had enough coffee, so it wasn’t related to caffeine.

“Hey Cuz! You’d never believe what I just found – ” Kono said as she walked into the room, but she stopped when she saw him, “Hey, you okay? You don’t look so hot”

Chin lifted his head from his hands and smiled at his cousin, “I’m okay, just tired”

Kono hmphed as though she didn’t believe him, but let it drop, “There’s a beach not far from here and there’s amazing surf! And better yet, there’s no one around so the break would be all ours!”

“Sounds amazing” Chin responded, but his tone belied how he felt.

“Maybe you should go lie down, Detective Kelly, the weather can really take its toll on unsuspecting guests” Sasha said as she walked into the room and saw the condition Chin was in.

“Please Sasha, call me ‘Chin’” Chin said, ignoring everything else she said.

“Okay Chin, but only if you do as I say” Sasha responded, then made shooing motions at him.

Chin smiled and held up his hands in surrender, “Okay, I’m going”

As he stood up, his phone rang and he felt dread worm his way into his stomach when he saw _Governor Jameson_ on the screen.

“Kelly” Chin answered.

** “Detective Kelly, I’ve been trying to get a hold of Commander McGarrett, but he’s not answering my calls” **

“Yes Ma’am, he’s rather indisposed at the moment, the flu has him down for the count” Chin responded, hoping the excuse would hold, even though they’d said that he’d come down with the flu a week ago.

** “Can you put me on to him? I need to speak with him urgently”**

“Sorry Ma’am, he’s currently praying to the porcelain gods at the moment, I don’t think that conversation would be pleasant for either of you” Chin insisted.

** Jameson sighed, “Okay, what about Detective Williams?” **

“He’s still on heavy painkillers, and apparently they make him…how should I say this? A bit loopy? I was going to ask him earlier today if he wanted some lunch, but when I walked into his room, he was talking to the curtains and stroking the back of his hand down them, so I backed away – Ma’am, he’s rather indisposed as well, can I help you?” Chin asked, shrugging at Kono.

** “I thought you were all there for a team building experience? What is my money paying for? The two lead investigators of your unit aren’t even coherent at the moment!” **

“Well, the organiser factored in individual sessions as well as group ones, so Kono and myself are doing those now. The organiser said that Danny and Steve can catch up, it won’t be an issue” Chin bludged.

** Jameson sighed loudly, “Okay fine. But I need you all back here immediately, there’s a sensitive situation that needs dealing with” **

“Ma’am, at the very most, you’ll get me and Kono. Steve and Danny won’t be going anywhere soon” Chin responded, then thought of what he’d walked in on earlier today… it wouldn’t go well if they were to go back to civilisation before their nesting period was up….

_ Chin brought the car to a stop, but before he even got out of the car, he saw the front door open and Steve walk out onto the lanai. Steve who was totally butt naked and ready to attack him if necessary. _

_ Chin exited the car and held his hands up to show that he wasn’t a threat. Sasha had said that this might happen, and advised him to show at every opportunity that he didn’t mean them any harm. He slowly took the esky out of the backseat and laid it on the ground, this one contained more fresh products than the last one. _

_ He took a step towards the lanai, but Steve growled at him, so Chin stopped and put the esky down. As he started backing away, a black panther and a cougar appeared at the edge of the lanai, looking ready to pounce. Chin stopped moving and held up his hands in surrender again. _

_ The panther growled at him and took a step forwards. Then suddenly it stopped and looked distracted. That’s when Chin noticed that Danny had come out and was kissing Steve deeply, distracting him. Chin quickly took his leave and got in the car. As he drove away, he saw Steve had Danny bent over the railing of the lanai and was fucking him hard. _

“Besides” Chin continued, “The organiser here said that she wouldn’t be able to refund any of the money you paid for the team building experience. She’s usually booked up for months in advance, she only said yes to Danny because she had a team cancel at the last minute”

** “I told Detective Williams when I agreed to this, that you were all still on call if needed”**

“I’m sorry Ma’am, I don’t know what to say” Chin responded, “If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure HPD can handle whatever case you need investigating. They are competent operators” 

** “Have McGarrett call me as soon as he’s cognisant” **

With that, Jameson hung up. Chin frowned at the phone, then glanced at Kono, “I think we have a problem”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh! What's going to happen next? I know, that even took me by surprise. Sometimes the chapters just write themselves... Anyway, hope you liked it!
> 
> Let me know what you thought! :P


	28. Chapter 28

Steve sat down on the couch next to Danny and took a sip of his coffee. The taste exploded over his tastebuds and he remembered why he loved coffee so much. Then Danny carefully took the mug out of his hand and took a sip of it.

“What are you doing? You said you didn’t want a coffee!” Steve exclaimed.

“I changed my mind” Danny murmured, then grinned, “Thanks, where’s yours?”

Steve shook his head in amusement, but got up to make his own cup, “Sometimes I wonder how I fell for you so hard”

“It’s my charming personality” Danny responded with a smile, then winked at Steve, “And my amazing ass”

Steve chuckled and nodded in agreement, “And your ass is amazing”

“Yes, I know you think so. I think the world knows you think that” Danny told him, “I think you scared Chin”

“He was on my territory” Steve tried to defend himself.

“It’s not really your territory” Danny argued, “I mean, we’re on Kauai”

“Anywhere that you are, is my territory” Steve responded.

Danny rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue the point, “Any anyway, Chin’s not a threat, he’s a latent Guide. If anything, _I_ should have perceived him as the threat, not you”

“He’s not going to be latent for much longer” Steve murmured as he sat back down next to Danny with his fresh coffee.

Danny glanced at him for a moment, then sighed softly, “I felt it too, he’s coming online”

“I’m hoping Kono and Sasha are helping him out, giving him some idea how to put together a shield” Steve answered, then sipped at his coffee, “He shouldn’t leave Kauai until it’s sorted”

Danny nodded in agreeance, if they could feel him coming online, it was likely that others could too. And that was just dangerous. “Hopefully it means that his Sentinel is close by, a bond would help him a lot” Danny remarked.

Steve grinned, putting his coffee down, so he could murmur in Danny’s ear, “I can’t see any reason that copious amounts of sex would be a bad thing”

Danny snorted, then kissed Steve’s mouth softly, before picking up the book he’d been reading, “No, it’s never a bad thing, but I do need a break from it. My ass is a little bit tired at the moment”

Steve peppered Danny’s neck with soft kisses, “We don’t have to use your ass, we could use mine, I’d even let you be on top”

“My cock’s tired too” Danny murmured distractedly.

Steve exhaled deeply, “What’re you reading?”

Danny turned the cover of the book to him, “_A detailed history of Sentinels and Guides throughout time_. It’s really interesting, this place has copious amounts of books about every aspect of Gifted folk. It’s like someone raided a library before all these books would have been burnt”

“Fascinating” Steve responded dryly.

“It is! You Neanderthal” Danny exclaimed, “Steven, this is our history. This is all of the information about Sentinels and Guides that you didn’t even know you wanted to know! And don’t try to tell me that you don’t find history interesting, I’ve seen you read military history books! And sometimes I wonder how that tiny brain of yours can comprehend what you’re reading! Which leads to another question, do they print those books in the large print? With pictures?”

Steve grinned, “Most of them have a few colouring-in pages, I just flip to those”

Danny chuckled, then sobered, “But seriously, Steve, this is interesting stuff”

“Okay, I’ll bite – ”

“I know you do; I have the marks to prove it” Danny interrupted.

Steve laughed, “What’s so fascinating?”

“Okay, so check this out; Gifted folk have always had issues with non-Gifted folk. I mean, this goes back centuries. Take this for instance, in the early 1700s, King Augustus III of England created a law that made Sentinels and Guides the equivalent of being found out to be practising witchery. He saw hundreds of Gifted get burnt at the stake. Then 8 years after he made the law, he was poisoned. His successor, and it was widely speculated that his successor did the poisoning, abolished the law. Apparently Augustus had been paranoid that the Gifted folk would find out he was fucking one of his knights” Danny explained.

“So he didn’t want anyone to know he was gay?” Steve asked.

“Being a homosexual in those days was punishable by death. And I know what you’re going to say; just change the law, right? They were also incredibly superstitious. Common folk thought being gay meant there was something wrong with you in the same way that they thought that being a witch was” Danny responded.

“What about Sentinels and Guides? The vast majority of pairs are same sex” Steve asked.

“True” Danny allowed as he took a sip of his coffee, “They largely turned a blind eye to it, or they didn’t know. Bonded gifted pairs usually lived with other bonded gifted. Two men, two women. It also helped with the whole procreation thing; the two families would live together”

“Right, I remember a guy in school telling me about something like that” Steve remarked.

“It was common practice up until about the 1950s. At various times throughout history, the pairs were organised through a third party, which was known as The Centre, kind of like an arranged marriage. The two pairs would go somewhere for a few days to see if they were compatible; if they were, then they’d either go live together and be happy families, or they’d go have a wild orgy somewhere, the women would give birth and they’d figure out the details later. That was how Gifted came to have packs” Danny responded.

“And the pairs that weren’t compatible?” Steve asked.

Danny grimaced, “Usually maimed or killed each other”

Steve frowned, “Wow, not what I was expecting”

“See? Interesting, right?” Danny responded.

Steve sighed and sipped at his coffee, which was starting to go cold, “What about your parents?”

Danny scrunched at his face, “High school sweethearts, they came online within weeks of one another when they turned 15. Just makes you feel a bit sick, right?”

Steve snorted in response, “I think it’s kind of sweet”

“You know there’s something wrong with you, right? Grose!” Danny said in mock disgust, “What about your folks?”

Steve shook his head, “They were both Sentinels. They were attracted to each other and hit it off, then they found their Guide”

“They had the same Guide?” Danny asked.

Steve nodded, “Joe White. I don’t know the intricacies, I don’t want to, but the three of them bonded together”

Danny raised his eyebrows, “Wow! Well, I mean it’s not unheard of …”

“It’s just incredibly rare” Steve answered, “What else does the book say?”

“Well, every 50 years or so, the Gifted and non-Gifted come to blows. In 1825, the Gifted hunted the non-Gifted folk – that was in Russia and it was very light on details. That was the first-time sense bombs were used effectively. The book doesn’t say how it was resolved” Danny responded, “In 1910, Gifted were banned from the military, emergency services and public appointments in America. The President said the Gifted had an unfair advantage, but public sentiment indicated something else was going on”

“Most Gifted are attracted to those kind of positions” Steve remarked.

Danny nodded, “There was massive backlash for the decision. But fast forward four years and the decision was superseded when World War I was declared. In 1921, the President backed an initiative to give greater funding to The Centres for mating rituals”

Steve did the maths, “If that was successful, then any of the Gifted born as a result would have been of age come World War II”

Danny smiled, “Good boy, and that is what happened”

Steve finished his coffee and put it on the coffee table, “What else?”

“Not much more of interest in the past 50 years, but this book is absolutely gold!” Danny closed the big book he was holding and picked up the small paper bound book that had been hiding inside. 

“_A more recent history of Sentinels and Guides_ by Blair Sandberg” Steve read, “Doesn’t look published”

“Yeah, well it’s not. Because Blair would have been hung up by his balls if he’d tried to get it published. It details events before, during and after the current laws were imposed” Danny responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I cut this short, there is more to this chapter, but the boys talk a lot and I didn't want the chapter to be too heavy with details... More to come shortly (probably tomorrow....)
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought!:P


	29. Chapter 29

_“Yeah, well it’s not. Because Blair would have been hung up by his balls if he’d tried to get it published. It details events before, during and after the current laws were imposed” Danny responded._

“His name rings a bell” Steve said.

“Yes, well it should” Danny responded, “He’s only the Alpha Prime Guide of North America, bonded and married to Jim Ellison, Alpha Prime Sentinel of North America”

Steve clicked his fingers, “I remember hearing about them! They were incredibly vocal about how the Government was making a huge mistake, then they disappeared”

“They fled after the law was passed” Danny responded, “This book details exactly what happened”

“Okay, I’m listening” Steve responded.

“Okay, get comfortable. In 1998, a young Guide came online in the middle of a concert in France. She wasn’t a strong Guide, but she was terrified and she projected her distress and pain to most of the concert go-ers, before other Gifted folk stepped in to help her. An investigation later found that it only took 10 seconds for other Gifted to come to her aid and shield her emotions, but it was enough” Danny read.

“Concert goers panicked and tried to rush the exits, three teenagers died in the stampede and tens of others were wounded” Danny continued, “Later that year, Sentinels and Guides conducted a peaceful protest against the Government who had just passed legislation that prohibited Gifted from attending public events or events where there would likely be more than 100 people”

“I remember that” Steve said.

“Well you probably remember what happened. It started peacefully, but the police panicked and started using the stun guns – ”

“They look the same as normal weapons, but the rounds are the equivalent of a bean bag” Steve interrupted.

“Blair called them stun guns” 

“Well, he’s wrong”

“You can tell him that if you ever meet him. Can I continue?” Danny asked, then when Steve nodded, he resumed his reading, “One of the projectiles hit a Sentinel in the temple, it was a fatal blow. Her Guide went ballistic and turned 15 of the riot police into vegetables, before the police were able to stop her. Her death made two Sentinels go feral and they attacked the police – I mean, the whole event was just carnage. In the end, three Guides and seven Sentinels were killed, along with 12 police, and there were countless injured”

“The riot lasted for three weeks, but the first 24 hours were the most intense and had the most fatalities. The Gifted and the Government reached a shaky truce, but there was a great divide between the two. The common community were divided as well, some sided with the Gifted, saying their rights were being denied, and other sided with the Government, saying the Gifted were a threat” Danny continued.

“That was in France?” Steve asked.

“Yep, that was in France” Danny confirmed, “Early the next year – 1999 – an unbonded Sentinel in Brisbane, Australia, had a zone and drove a bus off the side of a cliff. There were no survivors. The Sentinel was in his early-fifties and had been taking Ketamine to control his spikes and zones, but apparently it wasn’t as effective as it needed to be. The bus passengers were tourists; 10 Americans, five Japanese, three French, two German and two British. It damned near started an international incident”

“That same day, an unbonded Guide in Adelaide, Australia, went into a empathic distress in the middle of a busy shopping mall and crippled shoppers for two hours before he died. He was in an elevator when it happened, and it was determined that one of the people in the elevator pressed the ‘stop’ button before collapsing. No Gifted could get access to him to put a stop to it. No-one other than the Guide died, but there were countless non-Gifted who had psychological damage as a result. And that part of the city was closed, under quarantine measures for about five hours” Danny told him.

“The Sentinel in Brisbane was the Guide in Adelaide’s Sentinel?” Steve asked.

“That’s what Blair suspected. The Guide was in his late-forties and had started taking Ketamine to control his empathic spikes and distress” Danny responded, “After that, there was a lot of tit for tat. Non-gifted folk started targeting the Gifted, but they ended up coming off worse because they could never achieve the element of surprise. And of course, the media would report that the Gifted caused grievous bodily harm to an upstanding member of the community, but would leave out that it was the non-Gifted that were the protagonist”

“Of course” Steve muttered.

“Then in the beginning of 2000, a Sentinel in the Bronx picked his kid up from school and was attacked by a group of youths. The Sentinel was an ex-Army Ranger and put four of the five youths in hospital” Danny continued.

“And the fifth?” Steve asked.

“Died at the scene, but not before he accidentally killed the Sentinel’s son. Apparently he’d knocked the kid to the ground, the kid smacked his head on the ground and never got back up. The Sentinel went feral and killed the youth, then just lost it. He killed one more person and seriously injured a dozen before the police could put a stop to him” Danny responded, “The Government used the case to highlight that the Gifted were dangerous and tried to ban them from coming within 3 miles of any school”

“The Gifted took to the streets and staged a silent protest outside Government house. At the same time, Sentinels and Guides around the world brought city centres to a stop by silently protesting. And that was when Blair Sandberg and Jim Ellison publicly tried to stop the Government for making a monumental mistake. Because up until that point, it had been non-Gifted striking out because of fear, but the Gifted had largely tried to go about their lives” Danny told him.

“From memory, they turned public opinion. But shortly afterwards was the situation with Sentinel Marcus Goldham” Steve answered.

Danny nodded, “His Guide – Jason Davies – went to his daughter’s school to pick her up, but a group of men snatched him, shouting that he shouldn’t be allowed within a certain distance of the school. When Marcus got wind of it, he went feral and killed 30 people. Investigations later showed that Jason had been badly beaten, then put on a freighter to be sold as slave labour. The people that Marcus killed were mostly human traffickers, but there were also a handful of people that weren’t involved”

“Then the Government changed the law” Steve summarised.

Danny nodded again, “Sandberg and Ellison tried to stop the decision, but their protests fell on deaf ears. Most of the powers that be agreed with America’s decision, including the UK, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, the list goes on. But interestingly, a few likened the decision to Genocide - ”

“Because that’s exactly what this is” Steve interrupted.

“Yes, well, they said that the others were nuts to agree with this kind of policy. So the list of those who said no, includes Canada, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Switzerland, Greece, India, there’s more, but I won’t read them all” Danny responded.

“Some of those, I don’t find surprising” Steve said, “So Sandberg and Ellison probably fled to Canada”

“Probably” Danny murmured as he continued reading.

The ringing of a phone interrupted the peace of the house and the two men stared at one another for a moment, silently asking if the ringing belonged to the other’s cell phone. Eventually, Steve got up and answered what turned out to be a landline.

“Yeah” he answered, not wanting to give away his identity in case it was a wrong number.

_“Boss-man! How was the week long sex marathon?”_ Kono’s voice filtered over the speaker.

“I don’t kiss-and-tell, Kono” Steve grinned and relaxed, “How goz’it?”

Danny relaxed as he heard Kono’s name, then got up to make another pot of coffee.

_”Oh, you’re no fun! So, I don’t want you to panic, but we have a slight problem. The Governor called Chin this morning, she’s not happy that she can’t get in contact with you. We tried to old ‘Steve has the flu’ and ‘Danny is mental on pain meds’ trick, but we’re not sure if she bought it”_

“I’ll call her” Steve said with a sigh, so much for trying to get a bit of time off, “I know Chin’s probably packing his bag and making noises about getting back there, but he must not, under any circumstances, leave this island. Not yet”

Steve heard Kono close a door then asked softly, _”He’s coming online, isn’t he?”_

“Teach him what you can, make sure he’s as ready for it as he can be. It’s not going to be easy for him, not this late in life. And ah” Steve sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, “I’m sorry, it was probably him being around us whilst this went on that tipped him over”

“It wasn’t just us, babe” Danny commented from the couch, aware that Kono could hear him too, “Granted, we’ll probably be alpha primes, but Chin’s been around Kono, Sasha, even Patrick and Frank and countless other Sentinels and Guides. Plus, the obvious, him coming online for his Sentinel”

_”We’ll keep an eye on him_

“Thanks Kono” Steve responded, then hung up. He sighed and turned to Danny, “Guess I better call Jameson”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this one took longer than I anticipated. It felt a bit off, but I tried to keep it on track. Anyway, not long to go now.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :D


	30. Chapter 30

Steve paced up and down the length of the lounge room, trying to get in the right headspace for their first visitors since the bonding. Sasha was bringing Frank and Patrick over to discuss how they would have to change their behaviours and other particulars after having bonded. But the thought of having another Sentinel and two Guides, even if they were already bonded, in his territory was making him feel possessive and a little bit primal. After all, the bonding had only finished three days ago, and they were quite comfortable in their nesting period...

He felt the need to piss around the perimeter of the house to mark his territory. And he knew that if his Guide would allow it, which he wouldn’t so Steve didn’t ask, he felt the need to piss on Danny again for the same reason – even though the urge was stronger.

“Babe, you’re going to wear a hole in the carpet” Danny commented from where he was sitting on the kitchen counter.

Steve stopped his pacing and turned to his Guide. The man was sitting there as if he wasn’t bothered by the fact that their space was about to get invaded. He was gently swinging his legs as he sat, the very picture of a carefree individual. But something about Danny’s bare feet made Steve twitch, it felt like he was sitting there without any clothes on at all.

“What’s wrong?” Danny asked, apparently in tune with the change in Steve’s feelings.

“Put some socks on” Steve muttered, feeling ashamed for wanting his Guide’s feet covered, but not knowing why. He started pacing again, not wanting to see Danny’s reaction to his bizarre request.

“Hey” Danny said from Steve’s side, “It’s fine, if my bare feet are bothering you, I’ll cover them up”

Steve nodded in thanks and turned to give his Guide a quick kiss, but it soon turned hot and passionate. His cock tried to take an interest in the goings-on, but it was spent after the round of hot sex from the morning. As soon as they’d heard they were going to have company, Steve had pinned Danny against the kitchen counter and fucked him as if their lives had depended on it.

Steve flared his nostrils and caught the scent of his semen that still hung around Danny’s body, even though they’d showered afterwards, much to Steve’s disappointment.

He pulled back from their kiss and latched onto Danny’s neck. He bit down when he reached his favourite spot, he heard the blood rush to the surface and bit down a bit harder so it beaded on top of Danny’s skin. He licked away the blood and groaned into Danny’s neck, he didn’t want his space to be invaded, but unfortunately, it was a necessity.

“They won’t be here long” Danny murmured, “And they won’t get upset if you kick them out early”

Steve nodded against Danny’s neck, then with a huff, stood up and gave Danny’s ass a light tap, “Socks, now. They’re not far away”

Danny chuckled, but did as he bid. As he walked into the bedroom, he swayed his hips seductively, knowing that he was driving Steve crazy. Steve shook his head, wondering why his inner Sentinel had chosen this crazy Guide, who delighted in torturing him.

He listened to the car as it got closer, frowning when he realised there were two of them. Why would they bring two cars? Then he listened further and heard six heartbeats. What the hell was going on?! 

“Steve?” he heard Danny asked, but he waved at him for silence as he identified the people in the car. He easily identified Kono – not that he considered her a threat, but she was an unbonded Sentinel – then Chin. He frowned, why were they bringing two unbonded Gifted to his home? 

Lastly, he identified Sasha, then two heartbeats that he recognised from his neighbourhood, so probably Patrick and Frank. The last heartbeat, he didn’t recognise, but he could feel that it was a bonded Sentinel.

“Go into the bedroom, lock the door” Steve commanded, as their spirit animals appeared, looking ferocious.

“Is that Chin?” Danny asked instead.

“And Kono” Steve responded shortly, “Bedroom, now!”

“He’s in pain, Steve” Danny told him, “I can feel him from here. Babe, I remember when I came online, it was complete agony”

“I know, but I need you to go into the bedroom and lock the door” Steve urged. If he was an animal, his hackles would be raised. As it was, he wanted to start growling. “Take Julian and Kip with you”

Danny sighed, but did as he was asked, letting the two spirit animals into the bedroom before closing the door. As soon as the door closed, he went outside and let his vision follow his hearing to where the cars were coming to a stop far down the road. When they stopped, one of the men got out the car and spoke.

“Steve, I’m Patrick. I know you were expecting just myself, my Guide and Sasha. But when we stopped at the homestead, we couldn’t help but notice that one of your pack, unbonded Guide Chin, has come online and needs help. My Guide knows a technique that could help, so if you’re happy, and only if you’re happy, can we bring him into your territory?” Patrick asked, “We also bring unbonded Sentinel Kono, also of your pack, and bonded Sentinel and Guide David and Sasha”

Steve clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, he was uneasy about letting so many people into his territory so soon after he’d bonded. But he also knew Chin needed help, and like Patrick had said, he was part of his pack, which made him _Ohana_ in more ways than one. “You may enter” Steve finally responded.

He watched as Patrick got back into the car and they drove the final distance to the cottage. As they got closer, he could feel Chin’s anguish. He could that the group had tried to put shields up around him, but without Chin actively participating, the shields were flimsy and prone to falling down. The shields would barely be keeping out anything, it was just a blessing in disguise that they were in the middle of nowhere and there weren’t many people around.

Everyone in the group exited the cars, except for Chin, but stopped short of coming any further. Probably because Kip and Julian had just joined him on the front lanai, their hackles were raised, but they weren’t growling. At least they weren’t until a hawk and a crow appeared next to Patrick and Frank.

The group watched in part-fascination and part-nervousness as Kip and Julian descended from the lanai and slowly approached the other two spirit animals. They sniffed around each other for a moment, before finally licking each of the animals on their head, apparently in approval. The two cats then sniffed around Patrick and Frank, before moving on to Sasha and her Sentinel. 

Steve focussed his attention on Patrick, whilst watching the cats out of the corner of his eye, “I know you” 

Patrick nodded, “I should hope so. Every night, I check on all the Gifted in the neighbourhood, you would always push back when I touched you”

Steve nodded tightly, still feeling uneasy. He watched the cats approach Sasha and her Sentinel, raising his eyebrows as a badger and a mongoose appeared next to them.

“Sentinel Steve – ” Patrick started.

“Steve’s fine” Steve interrupted.

“Okay, Steve. Whilst the spirit animals are getting to know one another, we should do the same” Patrick remarked.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked.

“Imprinting” Frank jumped in, “We recognise you and your Guide as Alpha Primes, you’ll be Alpha Prime Sentinel and Guide of Hawai’i. Which means that if you and your Guide wish to remain in the neighbourhood you currently reside in on O’ahu, we need to formalise the power sharing arrangement”

“Meaning what?” Steve prompted, “You two take care of neighbourhood business and – ?”

“You and your Guide take care of Hawai’i business, we report to you. We’d be part of your prime” Patrick interrupted, “May we approach?” 

Steve watched Julian and Kip as he considered the request. The cats were approaching Kono, who’s bear appeared, making the cats startle for a moment and let out a growl. Kono’s bear huffed and sat down, then yawned loudly and lay down. 

“Yeah” he finally responded, turning his attention back to Patrick and Frank. The two men came up the lanai and stood in front of him.

Then Steve had the urge to touch them, so he gave in to it. He placed his hand on Patrick’s chest, over his heart and felt the rhythm of it, linking the sound he’d heard on many nights. Then he leant forward and kissed his cheek, cataloguing both the taste and the smell of the man. Then he stood back and let Patrick do the same to him. 

_ “Danno” _ Steve called over their bond, _ “Come meet our guests” _

_ “About time, babe. Can’t have you having all the fun” _

Steve grinned at the response, then began the imprinting process on Frank. By the time he was finished, Danny had walked out onto the lanai. He caught on to the goings on quickly and let Patrick imprint him. 

Steve relaxed a bit now that he’d officially accepted Patrick and Frank into his pride. He turned to the others and called up Sasha and her Sentinel. They repeated the process again and Steve felt a weight lift off his mind, his inner Sentinel had been irked by having Gifted here that he hadn’t officially accepted.

As David imprinted on Danny, Steve watched Kip and Julian approach Chin, who was half sitting, half lying in the back of the first vehicle. As the cats got closer, a young wolf suddenly appeared and started yapping at the cats. In response, Kip grabbed the pup by the scruff on his neck and pulled him out of the car. Kip began cleaning the pup, whilst Julian huffed at them, then climbed into the car to inspect Chin. After sniffing at him, he put his head into Chin’s lap and started purring.

Steve gave a small smile, at least the spirit animals were trying to ease Chin’s pain. They had to finish this imprinting process before they could really help him.

“Boss” Kono said as she walked up the steps.

“Kono” Steve returned, then placed his hand over her heart. He already considered Kono part of his pack, so this felt like a formality, but still, a necessary one. After Kono had imprinted Danny, Steve went down the stairs and carefully opened the door that Chin was resting against. 

“Morning Chin, good day for it” Steve commented, then bent down and helped Chin to his feet, “Put your arm around me”

“Mmmph” Chin responded, then let out a small whimper. The sound was Steve’s undoing, he picked up Chin’s legs and carried him into the house, knowing his pack and pride would follow him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hiatus, I've been moving house. I've just driven about 2200 kms / 1400 miles, and I've got about the same to go... 
> 
> Hope this chapter does it justice, I've been thinking about all of the ways this chapter could go, and settled with this. Hope you like it! Let me know what you think! :P
> 
> Also, I haven't forgotten about Steve's phone call to the Governor, you'll find out what she said in the next chapter. I ran out of room in this one.


	31. Chapter 31

“You said you knew a technique to help him?” Steve directed his question at Frank as he lay Chin on the couch. 

“Yeah, it’s a Guided meditation” Frank responded, then looked at Danny.

“You don’t mean…?” Danny asked with a frown.

“Yeah” Frank replied, at the same time Steve asked, “What is it?”

“It’s a kind of meditation, led by an Alpha Prime Guide. It’s supposed to help new online Guides – and Sentinels for that matter – develop their own shields… among other things… I always thought it was a myth” Danny responded, “But I mean, we could give it a go”

“Do it” Steve commanded.

Danny suppressed a sigh as he took his place by Chin’s head. He put a hand over Chin’s heart and another on Chin’s forehead, making Chin groan and squeeze his eyes closed.

“I know, buddy” Danny soothed, pushing soothing energy at him, then directing the others, “Okay, Frank, Sasha, find a piece of bare skin anywhere on Chin and hold on, and put your other hand on me. We’re going to the spirit plane and we’re going to show Chin how to put up a shield. Steve, Kono, Patrick and David, you need to form a ring around us and keep our shields from failing if they’re looking shabby. This will draw a lot of energy from us and we’ll be left totally exhausted”

Danny waited as everybody got into place, before he nodded at Steve, “Let’s begin”

***

Steve looked worryingly at the Guides; they’d been going for hours. He could feel how drained Danny was, so the others were probably in worse conditions. Or better…he wasn’t sure. But from the looks on Patrick and David’s faces, their Guides weren’t doing much better. 

He wondered if he should pull them out of it, but decided against it. Not only would Danny be extremely pissed at him, it could be dangerous. But then, wasn’t this too?

Then without warning, the Guides opened their eyes and dropped their hands. Steve cautiously let go of Kono and Patrick’s hands and reached out to Danny.

“Done?” he asked softly as he put his hands on Danny’s shoulders.

Danny sighed softly and nodded, then leant back against his chest. “He’ll need to work at it a bit, but he has the basics” Danny murmured.

“That’s good” Steve responded quietly, even as he probed Chin’s shield and found the truth of what Danny was saying. The man had at least a primary and secondary shield, which would do for now, and at least these ones were far stronger than what he had before.

“Bed?” Steve asked him, feeling his Guide’s exhaustion.

Danny nodded, but responded in the negative, “No, we have to hear what Patrick and Frank have to say. The sooner we get that done, the sooner everyone can leave and … we can sleep”

Steve kissed the top of Danny’s head, “I think Patrick and Frank have other ideas”

Danny looked over to where Frank was also laying in Patrick’s arms, both of them talking quietly. Out of respect, Steve had turned the dial down to his hearing so he didn’t know what they were talking about, at least not until Frank answered Steve’s statement, “No, as much as I’d like to sleep for an eternity, Danny’s right”

“We can give you privacy, head back to the homestead?” Kono suggested, glancing at Sasha and David.

“Yeah” David nodded, then gently shook Chin’s arm, “You with me, buddy?”

Chin opened his eyes and looked around the room with a glazed expression. He was clearly still a bit out of it. “Yeah” he responded.

As Chin slowly got to his feet, Steve was overcome by the same feeling as when everyone had first turned up at his doorstep, at least this time, he knew what to do. Steve quickly got to his feet and waited until Chin had righted himself and had focussed on Steve, before he began the imprinting. 

Chin grinned, then closed his eyes and bounced some energy against his shields. Steve grinned in amusement, he didn’t know what the Guide’s role in an imprint was, all he’d felt the last time was a brush of energy against his shields. Chin was still new at this, so it made sense that his control was a bit clumsy at the moment – not to mention the man was nearly asleep on his feet.

After Steve finished, Danny and Chin stood together for a moment, doing the Guide imprint. Finally, Chin looked at Kono, “Shall we go?”

Kono smiled at him and helped him lean against her, “Lead the way, cuz”

The two staggered to the door and out to the car, then David and Sasha left, quietly and quickly saying their goodbyes.

“And then there were four” Danny murmured, “Should we start?”

“I hope we haven’t misled you, this is going to be more of a chat than a practical exercise” Patrick explained, “We figured it was best that someone tell you a few home truths now that you’re bonded, and it was best to do so in person”

“Such as?” Steve asked.

“An important part of the bonding process is that of urination, it’s something you need to do as a bonded pair to signify that your mate is off limits, that he’s your territory” Patrick explained.

“We know that already” Steve said, “We already did that”

“I know” Patrick said with a grin, “But what you don’t know is that that…urge, for lack of a better word, extends to your physical territory. I take it you’ve felt, and are suppressing, your need to urinate in every corner of the house?”

Steve gave Danny a guilty look, then nodded, “Yeah”

“Well, imagine what that’ll be like in your own house. Sure, this place is special, you bonded here, but you don’t have any great attachment to it. When you get back to your own house, that need will be magnified and I’d be very surprised if you were both able to resist it”

“Both of us?” Danny asked.

“It’s your home too, Danny” Frank finally spoke, “You’re no less prone to marking your territory than he is”

“So you both…?” Danny asked, waving his hands around to try to indicate what he was talking about.

Frank nodded, “The first night after we got back from bonding. Then we went around with detergent, trying to get the smell out. If a sniffer came around, we wouldn’t have stood a chance”

“And because you’re Alpha Primes, your territory extends further than most. You’ll find it difficult to walk past a tree – any tree – without wanting to lift your leg” Patrick added.

“Patrick James!” Frank admonished.

Patrick smiled at his Guide, “Yes dear. But it’s true and we agreed to help them in any way we can”

“So you did that around your territory?” Steve asked.

“I wanted to, but managed to restrain myself to just the trees on the corners of my territory. And then, only under the cover of darkness” Patrick admitted.

“Patrick, we need to have a talk when we get home” Frank told him.

“What? I already told you that” Patrick responded, but Frank just shook his head at him.

Steve smiled at the obvious love the two men had for one another, but he could feel how tired Danny was. “Okay, we’ll keep it under control. What else?”

“Well you’ll most certainly need to strengthen your shields again, right now, you’re both broadcasting how happy and in love and satiated you are, not to mention the healthy dose of lust” Frank responded, then hastily added, “Which is all perfectly normal, you just need to contain it. If you were in the middle of Waikiki right now, even most of the common folk would feel like they’ve just had a healthy orgasm or five”

Danny nodded against Steve’s chest, “We can work on that”

“Have you considered how you’re going to explain your new living arrangements?” Frank asked, “The Centres have a program that alerts them when people of the same sex suddenly begin living under the same roof”

“We haven’t discussed it” Danny responded, “But I can just keep the apartment”

But Steve shook his head, “There has to be a better way”

“Just food for thought” Frank commented, “You don’t have to solve it yet, I understand you have a bit of extra time here?”

“Yeah, the reason the Governor wanted us back so urgently before was that a Senator’s daughter was caught using drugs. Apparently she thought that if we were put on the case, we’d sweep it under the rug” Steve responded, “I told her in no uncertain terms that she had the wrong idea about us. She said she felt bad and called it a matter of miscommunication, then told us to stay here for an extra week”

“Bribery” Danny muttered.

Steve nodded, they’d already discussed that the Governor was trying to buy his loyalty, but he’d found it hard to say ‘no’ at the time…

_ “Apologies again for the confusion, Commander. Why don’t you and your team stay in Kauai for an extra week? Now that you and Detective Williams are functional again. Purely for team building purposes, of course” Governor Jameson tried to explain. _

_ Steve just nodded, not trusting his voice. He looked down at Danny, who had just engulfed the head of his cock with his mouth as he rolled Steve’s balls with one of his hands. With his other hand, Danny was stroking himself, and making soft needy noises. Steve couldn’t help the curse when Danny dragged his teeth over Steve’s sensitive skin. _

_ “Commander?” Jameson asked. _

_ “Sorry ma’am, yeah sounds good” he easily agreed. Then Danny let go of his balls and started fingering himself … _

“Steve!” Danny called, slapping his arm to bring him out of his reverie.

“Sorry” Steve muttered, clearing his throat.

Patrick chuckled, “Well… ah, I guess that’d be our next point. You’re still going to feel the after-effects of the bonding for a while. You’ll want to mate as often as possible, and you won’t tolerate anyone touching either of you without explicit permission”

“And just be careful about broadcasting your intentions when that does happen” Frank advised.

“I just did that, right?” Steve asked.

“I think people in China probably felt what you wanted to do with Danny” Patrick responded with a grin.

_ “It’s okay, babe, me too” _ Danny said through the bond.

“Okay, what else?” Steve asked.

“You’ll be possessive and protective over anyone you’ve identified as pack or in your prime. Which unfortunately for you two, means all of the Gifted in Hawai’i” Frank responded.

“What?” Steve asked, “Really?”

“Suppose it makes sense” Danny murmured.

“I feel like this is going to be a full-time job” Steve remarked.

“That’s why you have us” Patrick said, “We’re your Betas. Alphas in our own right, of course, but Beta to you”

Steve sighed and put his head back to rest against the couch, “This is not how I imagined this would go”

Danny rubbed his calf soothingly, “We’ll do it together, babe”

Patrick stood up, pulling Frank to his feet, “Well, that’s all we can think of for the moment. That’s the most important information we can give you, if we think of anything else, we’ll pass it through Sasha. Otherwise, we’ll see you at home”

Steve and Danny saw the two men to the door and Steve followed them with his hearing as they got into the car that had been left behind, then as far as his hearing would go.

“Babe, you joining me?” Danny asked as he climbed into bed.

Steve grinned and turned to his partner, “Always”

Danny let out a big yawn and closed his eyes as he rested his head against the pillow, “To sleep, you Neanderthal. I’m tired”

Steve sighed, but climbed into bed, “Maybe in the morning?”

Danny scoffed, but didn’t open his eyes, “Just try to stop me”

Steve nestled himself in next to Danny and threw an arm over his chest. He still couldn’t believe how well they fit together. It was like Danny had been made for him.

_ “That’s because I was made for you” _ Danny said over their link.

_ “Get out of my head!” _ Steve thought back, but kissed the other man to take any sting out of his words. Danny hummed in contentment, even as he fell asleep. 

Steve smiled and closed his eyes, pressing another butterfly kiss to Danny’s skin as he followed his partner into the land of nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a great day!
> 
> Only 2 chapters to go now! Not long to go! But I have a solid idea for a sequel....
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	32. Chapter 32

“You ready for this?” Danny asked Steve as their plane touched down in O’ahu.

Steve shook his head, but answered, “Guess we don’t really have a choice anyway. Ready or not, we’re back”

Danny put his hand on Steve’s knee and gave a small squeeze, “We’ll get through it”

Steve placed his hand over Danny’s and squeezed his hand in return, then watched them taxi to the small private hangar. As they came to a stop, three black SUVs approached the hangar, clearly waiting for them to disembark.

“We have company” Steve warned Danny.

Danny nodded and glanced and Chin and Kono, who were already standing and clearly ready for a fight. “You better tell the cavalry to stand down, I’m sure it’s just friends saying welcome home” Danny responded.

_ “ ‘Friend’ isn’t the word I’d use to describe the Governor”_ Steve said through the bond.

Danny grinned at him, and couldn’t help himself from leaning in to steal a quick kiss, even as his hand wondered north to cup Steve through his clothing and gently squeezing him. Steve grunted and bit Danny’s lip softly in warning, then removed his hand from where it was caressing him through the clothing.

_ “Horny already?”_ Steve asked.

_ “What do you mean ‘already’? I wanted to join the mile high club!”_ Danny protested.

“That can be arranged” Steve murmured in the air that he shared with Danny.

“Okay everyone, listen up. Thanks for flying Air James and co, great having you on board and all that crap, you can now disembark and I believe your chariot awaits you” one of the pilots announced as the other pilot opened the cabin door.

Danny did a quick check on their shields, making sure that there were no cracks and that nothing could get through. When he was satisfied, he did the same with Chin and Kono’s shields and gave them the thumbs up signal.

Chin and Kono grabbed their bags and deliberately got off the plane first, probably to make sure that there was no threat waiting for them when they disembarked. Steve grinned at Danny and shook his head, he was proud of his pack. And he was proud of Chin for how far he’d come in so little time. Hopefully he’d find his Sentinel soon.

Steve got up and led Danny from the aircraft, stepping out into the warm O’ahu sun. As he descended the stairs, he noticed Governor Jameson get out of one of the black SUVs and approach the stairs.

“Commander McGarrett, good to have you home again” she greeted him, shaking his hand as he stepped off the stairs.

“Good to be back” Steve responded, “I take it you didn’t come down here to act as the welcoming party?”

“You’re right of course. Firstly, I wanted to apologise again for the misunderstanding” Jameson started, but when she got no response from Steve, she continued, “And secondly, I have a case for you. This is Chris Morris, he came to Hawai’i three days ago to sign a major defence contract, he was found dead in his hotel room yesterday evening”

Steve took the folder Jameson passed to him and listened as she filled him in on the relevant details. He flipped through the folder and suddenly realised that this was his life now. Investigating high profile cases for the Governor, who may or may not have alternate reasons for wanting them to investigate, whilst hiding the very essence of who he was, who they were.

_ “No rest for the wicked, huh?” _ Steve commented.

_ “Straight back into it” _ Danny agreed, then added, _ “She’s hiding something, Steven” _

_ “We’ll find out what it is” _ Steve responded.

“We’ll look into it” Steve said out loud to Jameson, waving the folder, then walking away to go find where their cars had gotten to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, just a short one, but it was necessary. I'll hopefully have the next one up tomorrow, just need to tweak it a bit so that it makes sense, but also leaves room for the sequel...
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought! :P


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took longer than expected, I didn't want to rush it, so held off until tonight. Hope it lives up to your expectations! Enjoy!

Steve glanced at Patrick, who gave him a small nod, telling him with that simple gesture that everyone was here. Patrick and Frank had given Danny and Steve amazing support since they’d gotten back. The advice they’d given them before they’d left Kauai was spot on and had certainly helped them navigate some tough spots. Some parts though, Steve and Danny hadn’t been able to help. Or maybe they’d just been unwilling to stop…

_ “Danny, you awake babe?” Steve asked, even though he could feel through the bond that he was. _

_ “Yeah” Danny responded, not moving from where he was playing little spoon to Steve’s big spoon. “And yeah, I agree, let’s go piss on some trees” Danny added. _

_ Steve smiled, happy that Danny was on the same page as he was. The need to mark their territory had been growing ever since they touched down in O’ahu. But now was probably the only time that they could get away with it… under the cover of darkness. _

_ “Doesn’t have to be many” Steve felt the need to defend himself, “Just enough to – ” _

_ “Steven, I really wouldn’t care if you wanted to mark all of the trees on this island, because if you don’t, I will” Danny replied. _

Yeah, that had been a fun night. It had been even more fun when Danny had felt a bit frisky and demanded that Steve pull over somewhere secluded. It wasn’t the first time Steve had had sex on a beach, but he swore it would be the last. There was just some places that sand shouldn’t go.

“You ready?” Danny asked him, pulling him from his thoughts.

Steve nodded and took Danny’s hand in his, “Showtime”

The two men walked down the steps of the bleachers to the basketball court and looked at the gathering. The Alphas, Steve and Danny’s Betas, from Hawai’i were gathered in the gym at Grace’s school, under the pretence of a Neighbourhood Watch meeting. 

They had no doubt that this was risky, but it had to be done. As soon as Steve and Danny had gotten back to O’ahu, they knew they needed to meet the rest of the Pride. It was a strong feeling, and it couldn’t be ignored any longer. As it was, they had had to wait a week until they had time to do this; the case that Governor Jameson had given them when they got back had been more complex than they had hoped for.

Steve glanced at Kono and Chin, his pack, who were sitting in the front row and gave a small grin with Kono gave him the thumbs up signal. The two of them had been amazing over the last week, helping out where they could and especially when they warned them that they were projecting their feelings. Chin still hadn’t found his Sentinel, but they didn’t expect him to have to wait too much longer, even he himself had said that he felt his Sentinel was close.

“Evening everyone” Steve started, not that he needed to call the room to attention, everyone was silent, waiting for him to speak. “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, of the Five-0 taskforce. This is Detective Danny Williams, my partner.

“We’re here to announce the formation of a Neighbourhood Watch group, thank you all for agreeing to participate, it’s nice to finally meet you all” Steve continued. He wanted to speak plainly, but he could feel a sniffer was in the area, at least their cover would allow them to talk about some of the things he wanted to speak to the group about. “We want to set some ground rules for how this group is going to operate.

“Firstly, some admin points. We want to run these meeting every month, then maybe go to every two months. What we expect to be discussed is anything going on in your neighbourhood that - ” Steve stopped speaking as he heard an unfamiliar car stop in the nearby carpark, then five sets of feet get out. He glanced at Danny and raised an eyebrow, but in response got a shrug. Sometimes sniffers were led through schools after hours on the off chance of catching a teen trying to vandalise the buildings. It was likely the handlers were bored.

Steve cleared his throat, determined to continue despite the potential threat not even a mile away. “Anything in your neighbourhood that’s not quite right, and by that I mean, people acting differently, or – ” he stopped himself again as the sniffer came through the main entrance to the gym hall.

The other Sentinels and Guides were sharing glances and trying not to look to the entrance to the basketball court. Suddenly Steve had had enough, he hated living this way. He hated living in fear.

_ “Steve?!” _ Danny asked along the bond, already having an idea of what Steve was going to do.

“I hear you” Steve spoke to the door, “Why don’t you come in?”

The doors to the basketball court opened and the lead handler shouted out the familiar call of a Sentinel-Under-Sentence. 

_ “Get ready” _ Steve told Danny along their link.

“I have a proposition for you; walk away from this Sentinel and never look back, or turn into a vegetable. Your choice” Steve said to the handlers. He eyed one of them, who was a latent Sentinel, wondering why he chose this profession.

Three of the handlers twitched, then fell to the floor. The fourth – the latent Sentinel – slowly raised his hands, “If you let me go, they’ll think it was me”

“We’ll protect you” Danny responded.

The man shook his head, then went for his weapon, but didn’t make it before Danny worked his magic. Once the man fell to the floor, one of the Sentinel / Guide pairs from the gathering rushed forward to the Sentinel, calling “Jeremy” as they approached. 

Jeremy stood in the middle of the fallen bodies looking shocked. Then he let the Sentinel / Guide pair comfort him.

“This ends today” Steve announced to his Prime, “I’ve had enough of sitting back, waiting to be dragged out to a Centre for torture and to be killed. This is our island! It’s time we fight back! I want to know when anyone in your territory comes online, I want to know if anyone is _ identified_”

“And what if they are _identified?_?” one of the Guides asked.

“We rescue them” Danny responded.

“And destroy the Centre that took them” Steve added, “Put the word out, if anyone is taken to a Centre for _ testing_, they are to identify themselves as Gifted, I don’t want any more Gifted being tortured. They are to say they’ll be a sniffer and we’ll make a plan to extract them. Whilst working as a sniffer, they are NOT to _ identify _ anyone! We’ve got to stop playing into their hands, how will the Centres identify anyone if no one plays their game. Right now, we are our own worst enemies. That stops now.”

“And as of now, I don’t want any Gifted working in those damned places! All Sentinels and Guides working in Centres, unless they can personally convince me that they have a good reason, are to terminate their employment with them immediately” Steve added.

“What about Gifted who have already been taken to Centres for _Testing_?” a Guide asked, “My cousin was taken a few days ago. It’s only a matter of time before they take me”

“The Centres are working on identifying the gene for Gifted at the moment. They’re close, I heard them talking about it” the Sentinel, Jeremy, stated.

“Hold up, just what are we going to do with any of the Gifted that are rescued? We can’t hide them. What’s your plan for Jeremy now?” the Guide that was comforting Jeremy asked.

“We have an agreement with the Alpha Primes of Western North America” Danny answered, “They will offer refuge to any Gifted that require it, we just have to get him there, which we can easily arrange. They have a reciprocal agreement with us”

Steve nodded, “We haven’t met the other Alpha Primes yet, but it’s being arranged”

The meeting itself hadn’t been a meeting in the truest sense of the word. Danny had insisted on meditating often to try to deal with their new situation, and in the second session, they had been summonsed to see the Alpha Prime pair. The meeting had taken place in the spirit world and had been quite pleasant, if a little strange. The Guide had petted her spirit animal, a monkey that was twice the size of a normal monkey the entire time, whilst the Sentinel’s spirit animal never made an appearance. 

“Which centre was your cousin talking to?” Danny asked the Guide who had spoken earlier.

“North Shore” the Guide responded.

“I have a few people there too” another Sentinel added.

Steve nodded, “We get them all. We’re going to need a couple of vans”

“My brother has a hire car business, consider it done” a Guide spoke up.

Danny wheeled over a whiteboard that had basketball plays on it, and wiped it clean, then handed Steve a marker. Steve grinned, then asked his audience, “Anyone been there?”

One of the Sentinels jumped down from the bleachers and started drawing a diagram on the whiteboard. Whilst he drew, Steve called a familiar number and hoped the man was in country.

_ “White” _

“Joe, it’s Steve. You still in Hawai’i?”

_ “Yeah, for about another 30 minutes” _

“Can I convince you to hold off for a few days?”

_ “What do you need?” _

“How much C4 could you get me?” Steve asked, grinning at Danny, who just rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done! Until the sequel... don't know when that will be. I have a few ficlets I want to work on first, then we'll see.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Thank you for sharing the journey with me. Let me know what you thought! :P


End file.
